“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. “Romans 8:26 (KJV)

There are verses of scripture that never fully come alive to you until you’ve personally had to cling to them yourself like a lifeline. You’ve read them many times over the years, heard other people’s take on them as they explain how it impacted their own lives. But until, you’re in the midst of a trying situation, and that particular verse is all you have to hold on to, you’ll never fully grasp the true depth and meaning as it pertains to your own life.

It’s like crutches, you know the importance of them and how they work; you see the way they make other people’s lives easier on a daily basis, but until you need those crutches yourself, the true gratitude is lost on you. Having to depend on them yourself would make you appreciate them on a totally different level.

Recently, Romans 8:26 has become that verse for me; revealing itself in a way that has become way more meaningful than it had in my younger Christian years. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

I didn’t know back then that there were going to be times when my soul would be so overwhelmed, I’d literally have no words left to express my deepest feelings on the inside. Growing up in church, I would see people praying that way sometimes, and would always wonder about it. How could someone pray without words? With strange groanings that seemingly amounted to nothing? But what I didn’t realize, was that those were prayers sent up from the depths of a soul in agony. Prayers that no one else would ever understand but the Lord.

Our Father in Heaven understands us no matter how we come to Him; whether it’s high on the mountain top singing His praises, or low in the valley of despair with our backs against the wall. We do not always have to have eloquent speech or fancy words to impress Him as we sometimes need with men; we can go to Him even when words fail us, even when our souls are crushed and our hearts are broken.

He understands us in the midst of our tears, when we cannot make another coherent sentence, and the Holy Spirit has to go before us to express what we cannot express for ourselves. At those times, it’s not that we don’t know how to pray, it’s that we simply cannot at that moment. You know those times I speak of. The ones where we’re either paralyzed by fear for whatever reason, facing a mountain that seems unsurmountable, or just have so many things thrown at us at once, we’re temporarily frozen with dread.

Today, if you’ve found yourself in that place; where you’ve said all that you can say, and prayed every prayer that you can pray, it’s okay to sit in His presence and just be still. Let the Holy Spirit take over and be your comfort as well as your mouthpiece; bridging the gap that you’re finding so hard to bridge with words at the moment, and the Lord will meet you right where you are.

Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (NIV)