Empty Prayer

 

Did you ever go through something that caused you to have no words? Your tears became your language and your silence a symphony of pain.

If you have ever experienced the intensity of emotions which no words can translate, you may have been also faced with the thought “I don’t even know what to pray”.

Words seem cheap and useless. Trying to figure out the why to circumstances become futile. We sit in a moment of great need, yet we can’t wrap our minds around anything to ask for.

I’ve spent times like this in the quiet corner of a chapel or church with a broken heart and tear-stained face. No words….at least none in a language that is speak-able.

In the course of the last few weeks we have seen tragedy that shakes us to the core. Lives taken in an instant. Evil in it’s most raw form.

Yet the world still spins.

Another day comes and the responsibilities of life and all that it entails continues to press on.

But our hearts are broken. Our spirits are weary. We have no words.

No words that seem worthy of the depth of our pain.

At times like this, I cling to the scripture in Romans;

“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.”

Did you ever sit in deep grieving silence with nothing to say and a friend simply sits down beside you? No words are exchanged, they are simply with you. The Holy Spirit is that friend in those times of need. When we have no words the Spirit interceds on our behalf. When our language is tears the Spirit translates an understanding even beyond our own comprehension.

If your heart hurts and you have no words simply be still. Sometimes we panic when we don’t know what to pray. Sometimes we give up all together and never take the healing time we need. It’s ok if you don’t have words. Sit in silence with the Lord. Let the Spirit help you in your weakness.

Allow the Spirits wordless groans to speak on your behalf. God knows the language of your heart intimately. When there are no words of the tongue God hears the language of our broken spirits perfectly.

When we sit with God in silence, he hears our groans.

-Patti