By Dr. Jack Graham
Imagine with me a pitch-black night, a howling wind, horizontal rain, a strange neighborhood in an unfamiliar city. And to top it off, your GPS isn’t working.
You’re lost. In fact, you’re so lost you wouldn’t know how to ask for directions even if there were anyone to ask.
So you do what most people would do—you pull your car over to the side of the road. You just don’t know what else to do. Going forward is the same as going backward—further into the unknown. Somebody from that city, from that neighborhood, would be nice to know at a time like that.
That’s how it can feel when you’re going through difficult times in your life. You know you’re lost in a strange place, and the wind and rain of trouble are trying their best to beat you into submission. They want you just to pull over to the side of the spiritual road and park.
You know that’s not right—you’re not going to move forward by sitting still—but you’re so lost you don’t even know how to pray to ask God for directions.
The words “Lord, help” are in your mind, but you do not hear them leaving your lips.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)
Fortunately, God has given us a guide, someone who will help us ask for the directions we need. The Holy Spirit knows the neighborhood, He knows how we feel, and He speaks the language we don’t.
If you are in a dark and stormy place… if it has been some time since you’ve prayed… if you’ve lost your way and will… you have a prayer partner in the Holy Spirit. But a partnership takes two. He is there, waiting.
