"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009 | |||
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The Groaning Spirit | |||
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Our coffee maker seems to speak in the wordless groans Paul
mentions in verse 26 of our text for this coming Sunday,
Romans 8:22-27. As it perks coffee, if all else is quiet, one's ears
get the impression of a conversation going on just beyond the range of
intelligibility, as if a radio show were playing in another room. Which
is exactly what we thought the sound was the first time we heard
it. So our groaning coffee maker is the sound I imagine as I think about how the Holy Spirit comes alongside and prays with us in our prayers. In the text, the groaning intercession of the Spirit resonates with the groaning of the whole creation in verse 22 and we ourselves groaning inwardly as we wait for the completion of God's kingdom, which Paul here describes in verse 23 as waiting "eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies." For myself, there are two sorts of occasions when I find myself "groaning inwardly" in eager waiting for what God is going to do. The first is on deeply moving, beautiful occasions when I have the feeling that I would like to stop time and simply stay in that moment. A happy family gathering, a bright morning beside a mountain lake, or a joyful gathering at the Lord's Table will make me sigh inside for the day when such gladness and beauty will actually be forever. On the other hand, those times when I feel deeply that something is not right with myself or the world also make me grown inwardly. Moments of sorrow for past sins, sitting beside someone dying or in pain, or just seeing creation's beauty blighted with some garbage or ugly development all cause me to groan for God's new and better day. And as Paul says in verse 26, I don't even know quite what to pray at such times. Praying for a good moment to last or a bad one to end soon seems trite and generally fruitless. Our sighs for the redemption of ourselves and our world really do often seem beyond words. That's why the gift of the Holy Spirit's own groans is so wonderful. He prays with us when we do not know what to pray for ourselves. The word for "help" in the phrase, "the Spirit helps us" in verse 26 carries with it an image of one person coming alongside another to pick up one end of a load. This business of communicating with God the deepest longings of our hearts can be a massive burden, but God Himself has chosen to carry it along with us. Verse 27 arises out of the fact that God knows both Himself and us better than we do ourselves. So out of that deep understanding of who we are and what He desires for us, He sends His Spirit to pray with us better prayers than we can pray alone. Even when we do not know what God's will is, the Spirit is bringing our prayers into conformity with His will. So as our coffee maker groans, or the wind moans through the trees above our house, or as I feel my own aching sighs for things to which I cannot even give words, I rejoice in the sounds and the feelings as signs of God's helping, groaning Holy Spirit. May He lift and carry all our prayers deep into the presence of God. | |||
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I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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