WHEN YOU CAN’T PRAY, GROAN

 

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

 

WHEN YOU CAN’T PRAY, GROAN

 

Rom 8:25-26

25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

 

          Paul described his own inner turmoil in the seventh chapter. He illustrated his frustration with himself by uttering what must have been a groan. He said, “O wretched man that I am” (Romans 7:24). He begins chapter eight with a wonderful response to that inner turmoil. He said, “There is now no condemnation.”

 

          Even Jesus was described as having groaned in His spirit when he met the mourners at the tomb of Lazarus in John 11:33-34. There, the word “groaned” is the Greek word embrimaomai which means, among other things, “to snort with anger, or “to sigh with chagrin.” Was He angry at the unbelief of the mourners or, perhaps at death itself? Surely, He felt the emptiness of loss.

 

          Our wicked and wearying world grows more frustrating every day. We wonder how much more we can tolerate before the Lord comes to rescue us. We snort with anger and sigh with chagrin. We groan!

 

          Perhaps you have approached your prayer time with the inability to express your deep feelings. So, you groan. God both hears and understands your groanings. Those He translates into cries and pleas that the Father receives for consideration. So, we groan and weep like a child who buries his face in the bosom of a parent.

 

Ps 55:1-2

55 Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.

2 Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise.

 

Lord, when all we can do is groan, please hear us. When all we can produce is a noise, please understand and answer. AMEN