Any parent, babysitter, or daycare worker has seen a two-year temper tantrum. It’s not a pretty sight!
When my son used to have one of those famous two-year-old temper tantrums it was not because he was mad that I had taken away what he wanted, or that he was not getting his way. It was because something was wrong, and he didn’t know how to tell me what was wrong.
I learned that he was either hungry, thirsty, or tired. He knew something was not right, but he didn’t know how to tell me what was wrong. Maybe he didn’t even know what was wrong. He just knew that he was unhappy.
As Christians there are times in our lives when things aren’t the way we think they should be. We know that we should pray, but we aren’t sure what to pray for or even how to pray for it.
Thankfully, God helps us in this area. Paul told the believers in Rome, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will” (Romans 8:26-27, NLT).
What’s even more important, is to note that the Holy Spirit helps us with more than just prayer. “For example” in verse 26 is an explanatory phrase. Meaning, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, and one of the ways that he helps us in our weaknesses is through prayer.
The help the Holy Spirit gives us isn’t just a casual help. The text says that he “pleads” for us believers. The dictionary defines “pleads” as a request from someone on behalf of someone else. “To argue a case or cause” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition) or “to make an emotional appeal” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary).
In other words, this isn’t a casual thing that the Holy Spirit does. He doesn’t help us because he has free time, or when he is in a good mood, or thinks that we deserve it. It’s something he actively does on our behalf. It’s part of who he is as a person.
My job as a loving parent was to give my son what he needed even when he didn’t know what he needed. And our loving God, who also is our spiritual parent, helps us when we don’t know how to pray or what to pray for.