That could cover a wide range of topics, couldn’t it? I’d say that most of what’s happening today is beyond my understanding! But fortunately, it’s not beyond God’s – or his sovereign control. But that’s a topic for another day, and beyond the scope of this week’s focus.
Recently I was asked to pray for a friend of a friend who had suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage. Of course, I grieved for her and the blow this was to her and her husband. But did I understand it?
I have never experienced a miscarriage. I’ve never given birth to a child or even been pregnant. So, how far away from her reality was I? Oceans away. I felt woefully inadequate as I closed my eyes to pray for her that first time.
As I was praying, I found myself trying to put myself in her shoes, trying to comprehend the depth of this loss. I specifically asked God to help me gain some understanding of how deep her pain was. And to my surprise and gratitude, I felt a small connection unlike anything I had experienced before.
Sure, I had prayed for those who have lost parents, grandparents, relatives, best friends and spouses. Even beloved pets. I could relate to those circumstances because I have lived through them all in my lifetime.
But this? So far outside my realm of understanding that I had no expectations of a real connection. And to be fair to any of you who have been through a devastating miscarriage, or walked alongside your spouse, I fully realize that the inkling God gave me pales in comparison to what you’ve experienced.
And yet, there is a lesson here for all of us. The God to whom I prayed knows EXACTLY what this woman was experiencing, and all the ways that her heart was breaking. And while God couldn’t give me the actual experience, He could give me a heart of compassion that could lead and inform my prayers. It was a powerful reminder to me of how important it is for us to tap into God’s strength and His wisdom as we intercede on behalf of those grieving.
This same power is available to all of you prayer warriors out there. Ask God to infuse you with the heart that can passionately pray for your loved ones, or friends of friends.
One of my favorite scriptures that became so real to me after the sudden death of my dad 29 years ago is from Romans 8:26-27 where we read:
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. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Not only can God’s Spirit help us to relate to situations that may be beyond our understanding, but, as the scripture says, it can actually pray FOR us when we have no words. When your heart is broken for your own circumstances or for those of a loved one, sometimes all you can muster up is a tangled web of emotions.
No understanding? No experience? No context? No words? It doesn’t matter. God knows what you want to pray. And maybe more importantly, He knows what the circumstances and the people in them desperately need.
That gives me peace. It gives me confidence in my prayers. Not because of what I bring to the altar, but because of the compassionate, all-knowing God who understands what we need before we even know we need it.
I hope this gives you encouragement as you find your own prayer list growing longer and longer with circumstances well beyond your understanding. Remember this: NOTHING is beyond God’s.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9