²⁶ In 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; ²⁷ and 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.

Groaning is not an altogether uncommon condition of the Christian heart. We “groan within ourselves” (Rom 8:23, see also 2 Cor 5:2, 4) while waiting along with “the whole creation [which] groans and suffers the pains of childbirth” (8:22) as we wait for our resurrection. Jesus was familiar with such aching of the soul as He prepared to open the eyes of the blind man (Mark 7:34). Indeed, every church leader knows the feeling when his heart is burdened down with the care of unruly (Heb 13:17) and complaining (James 5:9) Christians. These are times when in ourselves our prayer becomes speechless, not just outwardly, but inwardly. We fail in cognitive prayer, being unable to articulate anything beyond the most basic “Help!”

Incidentally (or not), the word “help” in the original Greek is found only one other time in the NT: in Luke 10:40, where this word “groan” occurs in the story of Martha, exhausted from the load of the meal preparation, requesting that Jesus instruct her sister Mary to help her. In the same way, the Spirit is sent by God to help us when we are burdened down with need to the point of exhaustion and inability to formulate words for our prayers.

Some teach that this verse speaks of “glossolalia,” that is, speaking in tongues, which, it is thought, gives outlet for emotional and spiritual relief to the burdened soul. However, we note that the groanings are “too deep for words,” or as the NKJV translates, “which cannot be uttered.” This does not allow for any verbiage, human language or not. Rather, the Spirit does the praying for us, without taking over our mouth with sounds.

The comfort comes in knowing that in the same way that the Spirit gives us hope concerning our resurrection (8:23), so “[i]n the same way” He intercedes for us. And while we may not be aware of what the conversation is that He has with the Father, we can be assured the intercession is clear and effective. This is true for two reasons: 1) the Father knows perfectly what the Spirit communicates and 2) the Spirit’s intercession is based on the will of God (see 1 John 5:14). So while we may be unsure of what to ask or how, we agree with William MacDonald that “we can take infinite encouragement from the fact that a groan may sometimes be the most spiritual prayer.”

Lord, thank You for the intercession of Your Spirit, who prays on my behalf.