“26 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. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Romans 8:26–27 (ESV)
Brothers and Sisters, I want to begin this article by simply expressing my gratitude towards the Lord our God for His grace. I am a man who despite his hatred towards sin, still sins. I am a man who groans in pity, yet prides in praise. I am a man who has been gifted the love of digging for the truths that are deep within God’s Word, yet finds himself on most days so weak in spirit that he is unwilling to open his Bible, nonetheless his heart. I am a man who holds fast to patience and grace with those about whom he knows nothing, but lacks the same virtues towards those he loves most. In summary, I am a wretch deprived of any righteousness, goodness, godliness, holiness, courage, and strength. However, in spite of these condemning facts–though I am often the first to give up on myself– Christ is overwhelmingly and undyingly persistent in keeping me and holding me fast to Himself. His embrace is one that I am quick to forget so that I would fall; but by His grace, I am continually reminded and restored. Brothers and sisters, you MUST know just how deep these words cut me!
For that very reason, it is important to confess these things. These written words of Paul and inspired words of God have surged through centuries upon millennia, pulsing ever ahead through the heartbeats of the strongest men, and pound the shore of my weakened heart. I thought I knew these words and their meaning. I thought to have dug the gold that was beneath them. But God has opened my eyes to more sacred ore to mine, and for that I rejoice! So with that being said, I want to share with you some of the truths that God has graciously revealed to me and I pray that He also reveals the same to you.
From the first words, we already have much to ponder! Paul writes in verse 26, “the Spirit helps us in our WEAKNESS”. Notice that it does not say, “the Spirit boosts us in our strengths” or “the Spirit blesses us in our riches”. Of course not! For if His focus was only on increasing that in which your flesh takes prides or finds pleasure, God would be doing the same thing that His enemy does (We must remember that our God is a jealous God!). He is not concerned with giving you more of what your flesh of sin desires; in fact, He is concerned with KILLING those desires because those same desires are killing you, a fact obvious to most of us. While we may recognize with our eyes what is and isn’t present in the verse, our hearts may misinterpret the words. We may read “the Spirit helps us in our weakness” and our hearts respond “the Spirit HEALS you OF your weakness”, a sneaky diversion from the truth toward which our flesh naturally gravitates. Paul is fully intentional with his words, however. He does not write them half-hearted, instead he writes them “WHoly-inspired. There are two events upon which your weakness will be completely healed and your sin completely killed; both result in your being with Christ. The first is your death and entry into Glory. The second is Christ’s return and your reunion with Him. Until one of those two events occurs, you and I are in for a war. Now, that may be disheartening for some of us to hear. But do not fret, for we have an aide in this fight and He is the strongest of aides! In many ways, I would say that we are to be thankful that in this life the Spirit helps us in our weakness, instead of healing us of our weakness. Because, it is through His continual helping and aide that we are able to feel His presence and moreso, His love! If He were to heal, He would go on and we would soon forget Him and His embrace. But, when He helps us, He is always there to pick us up, carry us over, and push us through, never once withdrawing His hand from our own!
There is another level to this that permeates our pleasures into the very state of our souls. In the second half of verse 26, we find another HUGE reason why the Spirit helps us in our weakness. “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought.” Do you see, friend? The Spirit helps us in our weakness, because we’re helpless. We are so helpless that we do not even know what to pray for. In other words, not only do we lack the ability to help ourselves, but we also lack the very knowledge of how to help ourselves. We get a clearer understanding of both the severity of our helplessness AND the abundance of His aide when Paul continues on to say, “but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” The Spirit HIMSELF through and out of His intimate knowledge, relationship, love, and aid for us looks within our non-verbal Spiritual state and speaks for us when we cannot speak for ourselves before the throne of the Almighty God. Some people ask, “Why groanings?” Well. If a 50 ton ingot of aluminum was laid upon you–and if you still lived– you would be considered graced to be able to groan. The same applies to our soul’s state. Our sin brings the weight of God’s wrath with it and beneath it, no man speaks nor lives. But, our Christ speaks and our Christ lives! Because our Christ took that weight off of us and onto Himself, we may groan BEHIND Christ! Though we deserve to lie motionless and lifeless in the throne room of God. So my beloved, do not mistake groaning for dying and in turn, despise that you groan. Rejoice that you groan! For Christ intercedes and interprets the pains that you cannot directly utter to your heavenly Father!
If any doubt remains, friend, allow Paul’s last words to us in verse 27 console you: “And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” The chain reaction goes as follows: If you have Christ, Christ has you. If Christ has you, you have His Spirit. If you have His Spirit, His Spirit Helps you. If His Spirit Helps you, His Spirit seeks you. If His Spirit seeks you, His Spirit knows you. If His Spirit knows you, His Spirit intercedes for you. And if His Spirit intercedes for you, you my friend have victory in your groaning. After all, “He Speaks For Those Who Groan”.