A “Prayer Pass” Addendum

Most of my multi-part blog posts are planned to be so in advance.  Not the case with today’s post.  It will piggyback on what I wrote last Tuesday. And I’m hopeful it will broaden the perspective of what we looked at previously.

You may recall that my 10-year-old Frenchie mix, Winnie, was dealing with some fairly serious kidney issues.  We discussed some big prayers being offered up on her behalf, and my “checking out” of my prayer responsibilities.

Winnie’s results from last Monday were not encouraging and caused me to consider preparing for the process of making that hard decision all pet owners must face.

That night as I was lying in bed, I struggled, once again, with how I should pray.  I was all over the map.  God, do I ask you for complete healing for her?  Do I ask you to give me some more time with her?  Or do I ask you to help me know when the time is right to make that final call?  And to help me through it.

Part of me wanted to check out again, but I had just “preached” against that so I realized it couldn’t be an option for me. I had to follow my own advice.

I knew that God could heal her completely.  I also am fully aware that God does not always answer our prayers for healing.  Once again, this is a fallen world, so death, disease, heartache, and loss are part of it ever since the Garden of Eden debacle.

I believe my dilemma is reflective of what so many Christians struggle with.  Not wanting to assume upon God, but also not wanting to sell him short, if I can use some common vernacular.

So, as I’m lying there with this dilemma front and center, God brought me back to the verse I referenced last week from Romans 8:26.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

I was first “introduced” to this text 31 years ago when my dad died very suddenly.  The pastor talked about this in his message, and the idea that God’s Spirit could actually pray in my place was powerful.  He could pray for me when I was so overcome with heartache that I couldn’t find words to adequately express it.

That is the context in which I’ve understood that text for the past three decades.  Until that fretful night as I struggled to know how to pray for Winnie.

Did you catch the words I just used?  Do you see how similar they are to the text?  “…we do not know what to pray for…”

And for the first time in my life, I saw that statement with fresh eyes.  Eyes that gave me a perspective that perfectly fit my “how to pray” dilemma.

It wasn’t that I was overwrought with emotion to the point of having no words to pray.  I simply didn’t know WHAT to pray.

To which God essentially said, “Of course you don’t.  That’s one of the reasons my Spirit will pray for you.”

Immediately I felt a weight lifted.  It wasn’t my responsibility to decide if I should ask God for the “big” thing, or the “I’ll settle for this” thing, or the “worst case” thing.  I didn’t have to know.  I just had to trust God’s Spirit to intercede for me with full knowledge of the outcome.

Does this give you a little freedom from the dilemma we often face?  The dichotomy that is God’s sovereign power vs. the effects of this fallen world.  How to pray? 

This doesn’t mean we never ask for the big thing, or the middle thing or the worst case thing.  Sometimes God can direct our hearts to pray down a certain road.  But when he doesn’t, trust his Spirit to do that all-important intercession.

Mind you, I didn’t stop praying at that point.  But the focus shifted mightily.  I began to thank God that his Spirit inside me could pray perfectly effectively for me.  I gratefully left it in his capable hands.  And then I fell asleep.

I don’t know what the near future holds for my sweet Winnie.  But I know God has already put the perfect plan in place.  I rest in that secure knowledge.  I end today not with scripture, but with a simple truth about the sovereignty of God.

I don’t know what the future holds,

But I know who holds the future.