Reflection on Romans 8:26-39

 

Romans 8:26-39 (NRSVue)

26 The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

  28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

  31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? 36 As it is written,

 “For your sake we are being killed all day long;

  we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Reflection

“There’s nothing good about me.  There’s nothing good in me.  Everything I do and everything I touch gets ruined.”  Pointing up and down at her own body, pushing the point home she said, “There’s nothing good in here.”

Looking at the woman with understanding eyes, the pastor straightened her dress, leaned forward and said, “But there is.  The Bible tells us that God’s Spirit is in us.  The Spirit dwells in us.  And I guarantee that God’s Spirit does not trash the apartment.  There is good in there.  There is good in you.  God’s Spirit is in you.”

“If God is right there, why do I struggle so much?”

“That is a good question.  That sounds like a something to pray to God about.”

“What would I even say?”

She leaned close again, as if her next words would be the most important ones she had ever spoken, “Listen to what the Spirit is praying.  The Spirit is praying, you know that, right?  The Spirit is talking to God the Father about you, praying for you.”

“I’ve never had anyone pray for me before.”

“Sure, you have, you just didn’t know.  The Bible tells us that the “Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).  “The Spirit has been praying for you.”

“You mean ‘groaning’ about me.  That’s what you said, the Spirit “groans.”

The Pastor smiled and said, “I’m the one who groans.  But the Spirit intercedes, the Spirit stands up for you when you cannot and pleads your case to the Father.  The Spirit has been praying for you the entire time.  The Spirit does not groan about you, but the Spirit groans with you.  The Spirit joins you in your struggles and groans with you.  You are not alone.”

The pastor was right.  We are not alone. 

For Paul, the life of faith is having a deep, deep trust in the Lord and all that the Lord does.  He has told us that there is nothing that we can do to earn God’s love.  He has told us that we will keep messing up again and again and the only thing we can do is cling to the one who does not mess up. 

And now, today, we hear that even in our prayer life the Spirit needs to pray for us.  “We do not know how to pray as we ought,” Paul teaches us (Romans 8:26).  We do not pray right.  We pray about stupid and selfish things.  We often focus on ourselves, and we forget about others in our prayers.  And sometimes we just have no idea what to say to God. 

Paul says that we are just as terrible with praying as we are with following the law of God.  Not only are we terrible, Paul teaches that we cannot follow God’s laws correctly and now he teaches that we cannot pray correctly.  But what we can do is trust in the one who can pray correctly. 

Remember, for Paul the life of faith is having a deep, deep trust in the Lord and all that the Lord does.  We trust in God’s Spirit to get the words right.  We trust in God’s Spirit to pray what really needs to be prayed.

After-all, we are like the kid who cried to his parents continuously in an annoying screech that he wanted hot dogs for dinner, again.  “I need my hot dogs!  I am just going to be bones without my hot dogs!” 

But the parents know better.  They know that their child is hungry and that what he really needs is something good and healthy to eat.  So, they cook him a good and healthy meal.  They hear his need, they hear his prayer, but they translate that need for hot dogs into what the prayer should really be, a need for good, healthy food.

And that is the way the Spirit prays for us.  Like a good parent, the Holy Spirit hears our prayer and asks God the real prayer of our heart.  Obviously, this prayer may or may not resemble the one spoken from our lips, but it is the prayer that is actually needed.

How does the Rolling Stones song go?  “You can’t always get what you want, and if you try some time, you find you get what you need.”  Christ has given us the gift of the Spirit, who prays not the prayer of what we want, but rather the prayer of what we need.  And I mean that “we” literally, because what “I” want does not always translate into what “we” need.

I think the Apostle Paul really understood this in a deep way.  I think about all the times that the Apostle Paul was imprisoned.  I also think about the all the times that Paul could have called out to God, asking God to secure his freedom.  “Please free your servant from the pit!” he could have cried.  But we do not read stories of this happening.  We do read about Paul using his imprisonment as an opportunity to share the good news with his fellow prisoners and with his captors.

The Spirit knows what is needed.  The Spirit knows where we need to be.  The Spirit’s prayer was that Paul might connect with those in prison.  The Spirit knew where Paul needed to be so that others might hear the good news.  The Spirit knew where Paul needed to be so he could do the will of God.  The Spirit prays the real prayer that is needed so that “all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  We trust in the movement of the Spirit.

And this trust in the movement of the Spirit and trust in Jesus to save us rather than trusting in ourselves, and trusting is all moving toward one of the strongest declarations of the good news of Jesus Christ that we find in the scriptures.  It is declaration that God is in charge in all things.  It is a declaration that even though the world fails to do good and fails to love, there is a God who is so much stronger.  We have a God who saves us when we fall.  We have a God who forgives us when cause harm.  We have a God who transforms our feeble prayers into prayers of the heart.  We have a God who dwells within us and will not give up on us or disappear from us.  We have a God, seen in Jesus Christ, who loves us, not because we are great, but rather loves us because he is great.

When you have a God like that, Paul asks, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written,

 “For your sake we are being killed all day long;

  we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).