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by L B Cowman
What Cannot Be Uttered
"Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our
infirmities; for we know not what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:26, 27).
This is the deep mystery of prayer. This is the delicate divine mechanism which
words cannot interpret, and which theology cannot explain, but which the
humblest believer knows even when he does not understand.
Oh, the burdens that we love to bear and cannot understand! Oh, the inarticulate
out-reachings of our hearts for things we cannot comprehend! And yet we know
they are an echo from the throne and a whisper from the heart of God. It is
often a groan rather than a song, a burden rather than a buoyant wing. But it is
a blessed burden, and it is a groan whose undertone is praise and unutterable
joy. It is "a groaning which cannot be uttered." We could not ourselves express
it always, and sometimes we do not understand any more than that God is praying
in us, for something that needs His touch and that He understands.
And so we can just pour out the fullness of our heart, the burden of our spirit,
the sorrow that crushes us, and know that He hears, He loves, He understands, He
receives; and He separates from our prayer all that is imperfect, ignorant and
wrong, and presents the rest, with the incense of the great High Priest, before
the throne on high; and our prayer is heard, accepted and answered in His name.
--A. B. Simpson
It is not necessary to be always speaking to God or always hearing from God, to
have communion with Him; there is an inarticulate fellowship more sweet than
words. The little child can sit all day long beside its busy mother and,
although few words are spoken on either side, and both are busy, the one at his
absorbing play, the other at her engrossing work, yet both are in perfect
fellowship. He knows that she is there, and she knows that he is all right. So
the saint and the Saviour can go on for hours in the silent fellowship of love,
and he be busy about the most common things, and yet conscious that every little
thing he does is touched with the complexion of His presence, and the sense of
His approval and blessing.
And then, when pressed with burdens and troubles too complicated to put into
words and too mysterious to tell or understand, how sweet it is to fall back
into His blessed arms, and just sob out the sorrow that we cannot speak!
--Selected
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