Right now, my daughter, Elsie, has one language—crying. It’s not my ideal way of communicating. Like the Spirit, she communicates with “groans too deep for words.” She cries. I come running. Is she too hot or too cold? Is her diaper wet or dirty? Is she tired or gassy? Is she hangry? (That was not a typo, FYI) Does she want to be held, or is she bored? Like a good father I trouble shoot, trying to figure out her needs.
The Father in heaven doesn’t trouble shoot. “Your father knows that you need these things before you ask.” (Matthew 6:32). Many times, what my wife and I give our daughter is not what she needs in the moment, and she fights back. Cry, scream, holler, cry. In contrast, God gives us what we need although it may not be what we want in the moment, and we fight back. Cry, scream, holler, cry.
I’m compelled by love.
Love drives me to come to my daughter’s aid. Strangely, I don’t ever remember not loving her. I loved her even when she was being “knit together in her mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13
Why do I love her? I love her because I love her. And God loves you because he loves you. “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you...” Deuteronomy 7:7-8a NIV
“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good,
but that God will make us good because He loves us.” - CS Lewis
Elsie doesn’t have to use the right words. In fact, she can’t. All she can do is 😭. In the same way, we don’t know how to pray as we ought, “but the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” “Before a word is on my tongue,” said David, “you, Lord, know it completely.” Psalm 139:4
We’re like the 5-year old boy who recently learned how to say his bedtime prayers. The little boy is crouched over his bed while his father eavesdrops from the door. The father’s curiosity is roused because he hears his son reciting the alphabet when he should be praying. The father waits and restrains himself from interrupting while the son continues, “G, H, I, J, K, L, M...”
Not able to wait any longer the father says, “Son, I thought you were saying your bedtime prayers.” Son replies, “I am praying, daddy.” Father says, “It sounds to me like you’re reciting your alphabets.” Son responds, “Well, I figure if I just give Jesus the letters, he’ll know what to make of them.”
Just like this little boy and my little girl, you don’t need the “right” words. The Father sees you. He hears all that you intend for him to hear and more.