24 July 2005

The Groaning of the Holy Spirit

Romans 8:26-34

David Deborde wrote: A father, walking past his 5 year old daughter's room one night, proudly noticed she was on her knees in prayer. Listening in, he heard this curious prayer- "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"- repeated several times. When she was finished, he asked her what it meant: "God is really smart," she said, "when I don't know what to pray about, I just say the alphabet and He figures it out for me"

I have to tell you, I like the logic of this 5 year old. God knows everything. He knows what we need as well as what we are going to say, even before we open our mouths. So, why wrestle to find the perfect words to speak to God? Of course, nothing is that simply, is it? If God did not care if we used words or not, Jesus would not have taught us to pray. No, God wants us to use words. God wants us to tell Him in our own words how we feel and what we think. However, talking to the Almighty God is both a mystery and a blessing. Have you ever wondered about the whole idea of us (imperfect moral people), able to talk to the Creator of the heavens and the earth? Have you ever wonder why would God even listen to us?

And, as if talking to the Almighty God was not difficult enough for us to understand; now we are asked to try to understand how the Holy Spirit speaks for us. Paul wrote, "the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words" (v 26). Other translations read, "but that very Spirit intercedes with wordless groans." Actually the Greek word used here for "groans," is the same word used in previous verses when Paul talked about "the whole creation... groaning in labor pains until now (v 22), and when he wrote, "we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies" (v 23).

The Greek word stenagmois (???????????) can mean sigh, groan, groaning, openly or inwardly grumbling (Greek-English Lexicon, Walter Bauer 4th ed. 1984).

Actually it is this word "groan" that connects us to all of creation and our hope for redemption. Like the whole natural world, we hope that one day we will completely be restored and made anew. According to Paul, the earth and our natural bodies will see complete restoration. Meanwhile we groan and hope for that day to come. John E. Toews in his commentary on Romans wrote, "Christians, because of the Spirit, groan in longing for complete redemption. Spirit possession does not distance Christians from creation, but rather intensifies the solidarity with creation both in suffering and in hope for full salvation."

By the way, in light of current events like the war in Iraq and the new findings of global warming, I find the new vision statement of the Mennonite Mission Network very interesting. It reads, "Together, Sharing All of Christ, with All of Creation." This vision statement takes seriously a complete understanding of Jesus Christ as well as His desire to restore all of God's creation. This vision statement could have come out of Paul's own mouth.

Yet, Paul believed that we do not fully understand prayer or what we should pray about. On the one hand, we are the "adopted... children of God" that can "cry Abba! Father! to God (v 15) On the other hand, "we do not know how to pray as we ought to" (v 26). We need the Holy Spirit to pray on our behalf.

Actually, I do not think it is that difficult to understand why we need the Holy Spirit to intercede for us. We might struggle to understand how the Spirit groans and prays for our behalf, but not why the Spirit intercedes for us. One honest look at ourselves and we would realize that we, more often than not, pray selfishly, not according to the will of God at all. For example, if I seek the will of God before buying anything, would I have as many material goods as I do today? Instead of buying more things, would I give more to charity, to Houston Mennonite Church and other Mennonite agencies? Is it the will of God that we obtain so many material goods while others in the world have nothing? Well, the good news is that I am slowly learning that perhaps, when it comes to buying things, I have it wrong. "the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with wordless groans... the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (vv 26, 27).

Another example of when we need the Holy Spirit interceding for us is when we simply are unable to pray. We need the Holy Spirit praying for us, when we find ourselves running and crying into the ER with our motionless child in our arms. We need the Holy Spirit praying for us, when we run out of the house crying trying to think what is the shortest route to the car accident where our teenager is hurt. We need the Holy Spirit praying for us, when our hearts stop and we slowly feel life leaving our bodies or life slowly leaving the body of our loved one. There are times when we certainly need the Holy Spirit praying and interceding for us.

However, I believe that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us even when we do not think about God at all. I believe the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf when we click on the website we know we should not be looking at, or enter the store we know could damage our testimony and our lives. I believe the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf even when evil and malicious thoughts invade our minds about a coworker, a boss, a friend, a family member or someone from this congregation. "the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with wordless groans... the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (vv 26, 27).

The following verses come out of this same context. When Paul wrote, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,"(v 28) he was thinking about the final hope we have in Christ. He was thinking of the time when all of creation and all of God's children (who are called according to his purpose) will find complete restoration, when we will be glorified. In other words, the "all things work together for good for those who love God," is not about all things, good or bad, working for our benefit. It is not about something good coming out of a horrific, devastating human tragedy, thought this can certainly happen. The "all things" refers to everything falling into place so that "those who love God" find their hope and salvation actualized. It is a future eschatological hope and expectation, rather than an immediate reality of our everyday circumstances.

Having said that, however, I do have to tell you that we find some later manuscripts (later copies of the letter) that read, "God works all things to the good to the ones loving God." In this case, it is clear that God will work all things to the good of the believer; including of course human tragedies. However, this reading is very problematic. It almost seems that someone did not understand the original verses and decided to make them a little clearer. By doing so he/she changed the meaning of the text, and changed what I believe Paul was trying to tell us.

I prefer the earlier reading. And, I prefer reading them in light of its context. However, believing that the "all things" refers to everything falling into place at the end of time does not mean God cannot use the bad in the world for the good of the believer today. God has always used the foolishness of the world to embarrass the educated proud. In 1 Corinthians 1:27 we read, "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak to shame the strong..." In our weakness, he is made strong. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 we read, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." No, for those who are in Christ, those who trust their lives to God and do His will, God can use the bad things that happens to us to bring glory to His name.

I like praying to God. It is comforting to know that the Almighty God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, listens to us. Why? I do not know! I do not know why God would ever listen to us; other than to say I believe He does, because He loves us. Why God loves us? I do not know that either. I just hope and believe that He does. I just hope and believe what Holy Scriptures say about our God. And because I believe He loves us, I believe He knows what we are going to say to Him, even before we open our mouths. I believe that even if we only recite the alphabet, like that 5-year-old girl, He would know what we want to say to Him. He would know what our hearts desires.

Yet, I also know that we are imperfect creatures. I know I am. I know that it is very likely that not all things I ask from God are the things God would want me to have. In other words, I have realized that I do not know how to pray, as I ought to. There are so many things that stand in the way: for example, my own selfish desires and my own imperfect will. This is why I am so delighted to know that the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf, groaning as it might be. It is comforting to know that the Holy Spirit prays for us even when we cannot pray ourselves. And there has been and will be many times in our lives when we will be unable to pray and we would need the Holy Spirit to intercede for us. I praise God for that, and thank God for those times in advance.

I also look forward to the day when we would not need to pray anymore, when we will be completely restored and glorified. I look forward to the day when the earth and us stop groaning for the day of our restoration, and all that is evil, ugly and imperfect in the world ceased to exist. I look forward to the day when no one would know the meaning of war, when no mother has to bury her child, when no one dies of hunger, when no one dies in pain and alone. I look forward to the day when birds fly freely, when trees grow old, when rivers do not stop flowing, when prairies do not become deserts, when animal species do not cease to exit. I look forward to the day when all things fall into place and life as it was meant to be, begins again for eternity.

Let us therefore, pray to God with words or with our tears. But, let us speak to God and tell to Him what is in our hearts.

Let us therefore, look again at what we are praying for and how we are praying. Perhaps we do not pray, as we ought to. Perhaps we have it all wrong. Perhaps we need to make changes in our lives.

And, let us praise God. Let us thank the Holy Spirit that prays for our behalf when we can not pray for ourselves. Let us thank God for the groaning prayers of the Holy Spirit.

Amen