Wordless Groans
Romans 8:14-27
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 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. 27 And he 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.
This last week I gathered with other Communitas members for a monthly time of prayer. We read through the passage above as a centering text to frame our time spent praying for our community and other needs in our world.
I was struck by the tension held in the passage talking about the incredible joy of knowing we are children of God and can come to the Father as co-heirs with Christ, but also about the suffering and frustration that we and all of creation also experience with Christ.
I find myself doing a lot of waiting (sometimes patiently?) in hope for what we do not yet have, and I imagine many of you are waiting as well. Waiting out a pandemic and other health issues; carrying grief; enduring relationship tensions. There are many difficulties we can readily acknowledge and situations which are surely not yet redeemed. Then for me, as I bring these situations up in prayer, I don’t always even know what to pray. Often, words aren’t enough to fully capture the sentiments I’m experiencing. In those moments, I’m particularly grateful that the Holy Spirit interprets the groans of my heart and intercedes on my behalf and for the sake of those for whom I’m praying.
My wordless groan for all of us is that we could somehow come to understand all the more the greatness of the gift of our identity as co-heirs with Christ, even in the midst of our experiences of suffering in the brokenness of the world as we wait for the hope of God’s redemption.
-Bill Strunk