Struggling in Prayer

Do you ever struggle with prayer? Do you find it difficult to find just the right words? I often do! I find it helpful to pray with the Bible in one hand and a prayer list in the other. So that is what I am doing today with my Bible and our church prayer list. As I look through the prayer list I like to imagine each person and his or her need. I see here a man with Covid-19 and pneumonia…Here are elderly parents on ventilators and multiple complications…A person with Down syndrome exhibiting Alzheimer’s…A young man in a mental health facility…Another with lesions in the lungs…I lift them up to our Father! Now I turn to my Bible with the lectionary readings for this next Sunday. Immediately my eyes go to the words from Romans 8:

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until
now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits
of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption,
the redemption of our bodies.
Romans 8:22-23

I am struck by what I read, noticing the words “groaning” and “groan.” It says the “the whole creation has been groaning,” and that we also “groan inwardly.” The dictionary defines groan as “a deep inarticulate moan indicative of pain, grief, or annoyance.” I think of times that I groan and grasp for words, and imagine those on our prayer list might also. A few verses earlier the apostle Paul says, “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Paul will not allow the prospect of future glory to take away from our suffering, or from our groaning. But, Paul does not want us to think that our groaning is ever meaningless. Our groaning has meaning, as it is “first fruits of the Spirit” within us, eagerly looking forward to our new bodies!

However, there is more than just our groaning! Paul assures us a few verses later that, as we groan, the Holy Spirit groans right along with us. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). The Spirit never leaves us alone with our groaning, never leaves us alone with our Covid, our cancer, our darkness, and our fear. Rather, the Holy Spirit feels with us, groaning and praying for us when all we can do is moan.

Admittedly, our understanding of God’s will and the new creation is limited, so that we do not know how to pray as we ought. But that’s okay, as the Holy Spirit groans and prays for us, and all those on our prayer list. And as we pray, the Holy Spirit – the Comforter –the Advocate – prays for all that we might ever hope for or long for, but can’t find the words.

Tim Smith