Sighs, Groans & Prayers#

Sometimes we are at our wit’s end. Sometimes circumstances seem so overwhelming that prayer gets pushed aside.

Those very times we need to pray most are the times we are incredibly distracted.

We don’t have the time, the energy, the wit or wisdom to frame the words that might constitute a prayer. And so we don’t pray.

This is not only a sad mistake but also a sad misunderstanding of what prayer is. 

There are many times when we simply can’t put what is on our minds and hearts into words. But that doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t pray. At such times, our prayers become sighs or groans, inarticulate to us but understood by God. His Spirit in us interprets what is going on and presents it faithfully to God.

In our human weakness, we can’t always know what to pray. We might be confused. And, we may not be able to summons up the energy to get our thoughts together. We simply, silently ask God to make sense of what does not make sense to us. We offer not our words but our silences, not our ordered thoughts but our incomprehensible sighs and groans.

Just because we cannot find the right words does not mean that the right prayer may not be prayed to God.

Just because our words fail, it does not mean that prayer fails.#

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)

Today's Soul Snippet:

"Many would be scantily clad if cloaked in their humility." ~ anon
 
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Today's SoulSnack is written by Rev. David Reay with light SoulSupply edits.