Our sighs meet with compassion

Do you have days when you try to pray, but all that emerges is the deepest sigh? When words fail and explaining to God how you really feel seems too much?

Perhaps nights have grown longer since pain became your companion or family pressures began weighing more heavily.

Maybe your ‘quiet times’ have become very quiet, punctuated only by a sob or a sigh.

I take heart from knowing that God is on my case.

He is not holding his breath, hoping I can find the right words for my fevered prayers.

The apostle Paul wrote: “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).

Some say prayer is a muscle that needs to be exercised.

I understand the truth in that, but when muscles weaken or are strained, they need support.

The Holy Spirit provides that support.

Broken hearts

He binds up broken hearts so healing can begin as we simply sit in God’s presence.

He prays through us, even through our sighs, in ways that are understood by our heavenly Father.

During my years as a missionary, I often preached through an interpreter.

Their task was to take my words and illustrations and communicate them faithfully to the congregation.

It was not easy for them – or for me – but I was deeply grateful for the way they bridged the cultural and linguistic divide.

They carried across what I was trying to express, with nothing lost or softened.

story continues…