Romans 8:26-27 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Wrestling with scripture indicates a desire to engage in deep thought or consideration. In my mind, when I wrestle with a scripture passage it is to seek the depth of what the Lord intends to teach through that text. For this reason, my daily prayer is often to ask the Lord for the measure of wisdom and depth of understanding he trusts me to handle correctly.
Conversely, according to 2 Peter 3:16 (KJV), it is the unlearned and unstable who wrest (i.e., twist; distort) the scriptures. Therefore, when I examine today’s text I want to make every effort through prayerful consideration that I am wrestling and not wresting.
I am continually amazed that before the world was created, before humans were created, even then there was a Master Plan. That God the Father would be Almighty God, Creator of all that exists; that his only begotten Son would become the Savior and Lord for all who would believe on his Name; and that the Holy Spirit would dwell within us to be our Advocate, Intercessor, Comforter, and Guide when Christ returned to sit at his Father’s right hand. This plan was in place before anything was created and I stand amazed at the wonder of it all.
God knew in advance that we would encounter times of unrest, pain, suffering, urgency, loss, grief, bewilderment…times when we could not even figure out what we truly should be praying. I believe there are two obvious reasons for this:
· We don’t know what to pray for because we have no clue what the future holds. We cannot even know minutes, hours, or days in advance.
· We don’t know what to pray for because while we think we might know what is good for us, we cannot possibly know what is the best for us in each situation or season of life.
Sometimes when we pray, our hearts are so heavy with perplexity that the most we can offer God is our wordless mumbles, our heart-broken groans, our silent sobs. And this is where I find the difference between wrestling and wresting in today’s passage:
· It is we who are in our weakness.
· It is we who do not know what we ought to pray for.
· It is we who use wordless groans.
· The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.
· The Holy Spirit interprets our wordless groans.
· The Holy Spirit knows precisely what words to use when he advocates to the Father on our behalf.
· The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in accordance with the will of God.
In closing, I would like to offer a quote from William Barclay, who wrote in his commentary the Letter to the Romans, 1975, p. 112
“We cannot know our own real need; we cannot with our finite minds grasp God’s plan; in the last analysis all that we can bring to God is an inarticulate sigh which the Spirit will translate to God for us.”
My dear friends, if you find yourself in a season of such anguish or bewilderment that you are at a loss for words in your prayer, you can be confident that the Holy Spirit knows exactly and precisely what words are needed, and he is interceding on your behalf to your Heavenly Father.
Gracious Heavenly Father,
Thank you for granting wisdom and understanding for those who seek you. Thank you that you hear every prayer we offer. And thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit who intercedes on our behalf when we are at a loss for words. To you we give all glory, honor, and praise.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen.
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