Divine Entreaty: Devotional Commentary for March 26-April 1
Romans 8:26-27 (NASB)
This is the Word of God. May the Spirit of Truth give us wisdom and insight to receive what has been conveyed through His Word by His Inspiration.
The Word of God for the Christian.
8:26-27
26In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
27and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Over the last several meditations, we have been pondering the life of the Christian as being: free from condemnation; and as being a life of Grace, Faith, and Hope; and as a journey of Perseverance. Paul's focus on the Hope of the believer is not unrealistic. Faith is initiated and stabilized by Grace and perseveres in Hope because the One Who began the good work of redemption is faithful and trustworthy to bring salvation to completion. In this context, Hope is not merely a means for surviving life's challenges through anticipation. It is a Spirit-generated sense of intrinsic assurance by which the redeemed soul rests in the certainty of the faithfulness of God our Father, and the reliability of His Providence concerning the truthfulness of redemption and the inevitability of God's redemptive Promises.
The life of the Christian is poised on a long lane of narrow and difficult path stretching from the moment of conversion to the time of physical death. Even though this journey is marked by hardships, sufferings, and persecution, it is a pilgrimage of Hope carried by the Power and the intercessory Prayer of the Holy Spirit. Being human and still under the influences of the old nature, the believer's communion with God waffles in a fellowship that is less than perfect or desirable. But the Holy Spirit aligns the redeemed with God's Will and His Purpose because He knows both the minds of the creature and the Creator.
With incomprehensible Language that cannot be expressed by earthly conventions, the Holy Spirit prays to God from within the soul of the redeemed so that our life as God's children would continue with strength, endurance, and Hope that would never falter. God knows our weakness and takes it upon Himself to insure that, through the prayer of the Holy Spirit, our supplications to Him would be in tune with His Will. Since our own passionate innovations cannot show us how we ought to pray, the Holy Spirit directs our passion to pray into a Right relationship with God, lifting our communion with Him to a more sanctified realm of holy fellowship.
We are saved by faith through Grace in Hope. We persevere by faith through Grace in Hope. However, neither the perseverance nor the hope of our own sentiments suffice to carry us through the hardships of life. Nothing in us can sustain the life that God gave us, except God Himself. We know neither how to pray nor what to pray for. God our Redeemer comes into our hearts by His Spirit and becomes our strength to accept His redemption and to anticipate its fulfillment in sure Hope.
The Hope in us is real and certain, only because the One Who generates it knows us and the mind of God to Whom we pray. Without Him, our knowledge is imperfect and our hope can easily slip into mortal expectation. But our infirmities are nursed to a solid Faith and Hope by the Holy Spirit Who is God's perfect strength in our weakness.
The Amplified Bible renders this Truth with a more expressive language:
26So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. 27And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.
Nothing or no one can set the sinner in right communion with God except God Himself.
Notes/Applications
We are Christians. We are believers. And so on and so forth goes our testimony. We are convicted, we confess, and then we believe and wait for the consummation of our redemption. We wait for our ultimate redemption by faith, through Grace, in Hope. What a beginning. What a journey. What an end. What a life. Amazing, but not easy.
We persevere. But our persistence is often unsteady due to discouraging obstacles in life. Our pilgrimage is marked with points of struggle, peaks and valleys, and moments of frustration interspersed with excitement.
When hope falters, when we are overwhelmed by shortcomings and disheartening circumstances, our commitment to perseverance begins to waffle. We waver and feel lost in the uncharted waters of perseverance. Life goes on and our struggle seems to intensify. Still, we are admonished to persevere in Hope.
Our life as Christians is always battered by the different aspects of the reality in which we live and serve. We cannot deny present hardships and personal experiences. We cannot give up the promises of our redemption. We cannot disregard God's Providence, His Mercy, and His sovereign Grace. Our weakness lingers like unwanted company. We feel engaged in battle with the old nature at all times. Our attention is often distracted and our focus seems to be displaced. We are weighed down with unanswered questions. Still, we believe and dare to hope.
We believe and hope because our help comes from the One Who made the heavens and the earth. Our Hope is in the Son Who paid our debt to the Law and robed us with His Righteousness. Our Hope is in the Holy Spirit Who lives in us and intercedes for us with God our Father. We look to God for strength and for wisdom and lean on His stabilizing presence. God is not indifferent to our predicaments. He does not watch us wrestle against the changing circumstances of life, from a distance. He moves within us in the Person of the Holy Spirit and pleads our case with Himself.
We are finite and our comprehension is limited. We are weak and shortsighted. But God is Infinite, Omniscient, Strong, and Sovereign. He is our stronghold and unfailing haven.
We hope because He is our Hope. We hope because we have already received the Gift of His Spirit. We hope because what had already happened in us had initiated us on a journey toward what is yet to come. We hope because our Lord and Savior is the Way to our reconciliation with our Father. We rest in True Hope because the Spirit of God has conveyed us to our Father in His Prayer.
Hope in the Spirit is real. Hope in Christ is True. Hope in the Father is the Gift of God. Hope in God will not disappoint. Hope: the lifeline of the believer from conversion to ultimate redemption. Because the Spirit of God is in us, we dare to hope and will not be ashamed.
