Groans

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8:25-27 NIV

The KJV Bible uses the word ‘groanings’ in this passage, and in some ways this carries the feelings in a little better manner. It’s the Spirit that intercedes for us in this way, but it doesn’t take much imagination to show that we also find ourselves praying in wordless groans! We don’t know why, but we feel that something isn’t right in our lives, or family, or church, or leadership, so we adopt a groaning for our petitions because we can’t put it into words.

I’m sure you will get the feeling at times that something isn’t quite right, but you can’t put your finger on it exactly. At work, school, or in the house that old red light comes on and for the life of us, we don’t understand why. Then a few days, or weeks, or perhaps even years, the truth emerges and your 6th sense was shown to be right. The question is, did we act on that ‘feeling’? Or did we just file it away under ‘it will pass’?

It would serve us well to take note of the warning light, and if possible check it out, or even act on it when we feel strongly enough that the feeling will grow bigger until it takes over. We have the God given senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste, but we are also granted some foreknowledge of something wrong. It is called discernment, and is often wrongly and sadly abused to malign and castigate fellow believers who think or act differently from us.

The Moaners

To all who mourn in Israel he will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory. Isaiah 61:3 TLB

Now and again I come across a moaning Christian. Hold on there, that’s not right. The words ‘moaning’ and ‘Christian’ don’t go together and shouldn’t be used in the same phrase. It’s an oxymoron to give it the correct title. But there you have it. Sadly, it’s usually older folks who have been on the way for a while, but somewhere they seem to have lost their joy.

These are invisible Christians, at least to themselves. They are oblivious to their sad condition which everyone else can so easily see, but who will tell them? I won’t or can’t because I respect them and their life lived for Christ. Also because there may be an underlying, and as yet undiagnosed medical condition which we know nothing of…. yet. So tread carefully and resist the temptation to fire a broadside that you may later regret. True joy goes much deeper than the facial muscles and the occasional gripe, and that same joy is their, and your, strength.

And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10 NLT

Moans and Groans

It is just something we do, and we do it so well. We complain, we moan, we groan, and we generally think we have a hard time of it, and our lives are tough. The kind of stuff we complain about, are things like, rain, drizzle, work or the lack of it. Not enough of a salary, or welfare. Kids too noisy or it's a school holiday, had to get up early, had a late night, a friend wasn't nice to you, and the list goes on. We seem to get wound up about some simple things, don't we?

I was reminded just how good we have it, and how comfortable we are in the UK. I think it was Harold McMillan who got into a lot of hot water (politically, in the 50's) for saying, "You've never had it so good", and the truth is, it has continually got better since then.

When you feel bad about your life, have a thought for the 100s of thousands of Pakistani people who have lost their lives, and millions of others who have been made homeless, destitute, desperately ill, have no clean water or clean clothes, and the clothes they stand up in, are all they own in life! All because of rain. The stuff we moan about, but this time causing flooding on a massive scale. Now that's something to complain about, but have you noticed that these folks are too busy rebuilding their shattered lives to moan?

We have no right to moan or groan, do we? Especially about our rain! We've never had it so good!