If You Can Groan You Can Pray
Brady King, my five foot tall, adorably charming, 29 year old son with Down syndrome…. socially, he can hold his own. Brady can carry on a conversation, has a great sense of humor and he loves to make people laugh. He rocks it at Food Lion three days a week, bagging groceries, returning grocery carts and bringing smiles to the shoppers he engages with. Sometimes he even gets tips!
Cognitively, there is a much bigger gap in what some of us call normal (whatever the heck normal means). Brady’s ability to understand and reason and figure problems out on his own are more on the level of an eight to nine year old. Obviously, his limited mental capacity is a challenge.
Yet, have you ever been on the receiving end of Brady praying over you? Felt his hand on your back while you were kneeling in despair at the altar and heard him talking to God on your behalf? Have you ever had him share a verse of Scripture that only God could have known you needed to hear? Have you ever experienced true worship alongside Brady? Have you had him wrap his arms around your neck when a hug was the very thing you needed the most? If you have, you would understand that his IQ doesn’t enter into the equation of Brady’s ability to pray and to worship and be used by God. It doesn’t factor in with anyone.
Why do I share this? To point out that when it comes to us being able to worship and to pray, IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW SMART WE ARE. I dare to say that the prayers of a CPA, MBA, PhD or an MD are of no greater value to God than the prayers of someone with DS (Down syndrome), CP (cerebral palsy), or MR (mental retardation). Here’s why I believe this to be true.
First of all, in God’s sovereignty, He doesn’t make mistakes. (Psalm 18:30) And if God made people for the purpose to praise him (Isaiah 43:21) and fellowship with him, then He will enable his children to do so. Here is an encouraging and powerful verse that shows us how God makes this possible.
“In 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.” Romans 8:26
I’d love to be able to give you a deep theological explanation of Romans 8:26 but I’m not that smart. Ephesians 1:13 tells us we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when we hear the gospel message and believe in Jesus. At that moment God’s Spirit indwells us. God understands we need his help to have our prayers line up with his will. He is eager to hear our prayers in whatever way we are able to say them.
Now look at Romans 8:27. “And he (God) 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.” Read that again because it’s loaded. You and I can be at our wits end and be so confused we don’t even know how to begin to pray. (We have all been there.) What a relief to know that we don’t need to formulate fancy formal prayers for them to be effective. Instead, we just need to acknowledge our need for God’s help. God and the Holy Spirit who resides within us are already at work. He is praying on our behalf. How cool is that? God’s got us covered.
So how do we pray when the going gets rough? For me, I get down on my knees and I join the Holy Spirit in some “groaning” (defined as “a deep inarticulate sound made in pain or despair”). I’m serious. Or it may sound like “Urgh!! I need help!” I call out the name, “Jesus,” and essentially say “you guys work this thing out. I don’t have a clue.” It doesn’t take a theologian or a PhD to know when you're desperate for God to intervene. Remember that the Spirit is praying for us (interceding) in agreement with God’s will and He an’t mess up.
This week try some groaning and wait with an eager anticipation for God to intervene.