Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought.
God’s sympathies with man’s infirmities
I. What is meant by infirmities. There is a wide difference between an infirmity and a sin. Sin is the deliberate choice of wrong. A man’s failure to comply with a Divine command is not always a sin. The failure may arise from inherent weakness or ignorance.
1. Men and women come into life with physical infirmities. Some are born blind, some deaf, some consumptive, and it is impossible for them to wholly overcome their physical defects. They may do something in this direction, but they will never be the men and women they would have been had they been better born.
2. Some are born with mental infirmities; some with less or poorer brain than others. Go into a public school and look at the heads and faces of the children. It does not follow that the scholar at the foot of the class is less industrious or less ambitious than the one at the head.
3. So people come into life with moral infirmities, and they are no more responsible for being born with these than for being born with physical or mental infirmities. “The creature,” Paul says, “was made subject to vanity, not willingly.” It is as though we came into life with a protest against our nature and surroundings. There are hereditary moral diseases as well as physical. It is their infirmity, and not their sin. Some arenot only badly born, but born under conditions that are not favourable to growth in goodness. Man’s physical nature demands certain conditions for its full perfect development. He will never grow to man’s stature unless he has appropriate food, warmth, clothing, exercise, etc. As the foot of the Chinese girl is cramped by circumstances over which she has no control, and as the flat-headed Indian’s child has its head flattened by the board put on it by its ignorant parents, so the moral nature of millions is dwarfed and starved because they are born and reared under adverse influences. Here is a little one beginning life in a den of vice. By precept and example it is taught the decalogue of the devil. Its first steps in life are on the burning pavement of hell. It grows up through the formative periods of childhood under immoral influences. Thousands are thus born and reared. Is their immorality their sin? I say it is their infirmity. You might as well blame the bruised reed for bending before the hurricane, as to blame these people for falling under the sweeping tides of temptation. There are thousands of fallen men and women who have done what they never intended to do. They were deceived. They were “overtaken in a fault.”
II. What are the feelings and attitude of God toward this infirm mass? There are a multitude of passages which clearly reveal God’s sympathies with man’s infirmities (Psa_73:36; Psa_103:13-14). I would not preach so as to lead men to excuse themselves for their wrong-doing, or lessen their sense of responsibility. The knowledge of the sympathy of the Divine Spirit for you should quicken you to seek a higher, holier, nobler life. There may be much against you. The conditions of your birth, early education, or habits, may be against you. But do not forget that God is for you, And if God be for you, who or what can be against you?
III. We must take advantage of the sympathy and help of God to remedy their moral defects and infirmities. The fact that a man has been born morally infirm is no excuse for remaining so, any more than being born poor is an excuse for continuing in poverty. Men born with physical defects seek, by the aid of medical science and skill, to remedy these defects. We overcome the obstructions of Nature. We convert the forest into a fruitful field and make even the desert blossom asthe rose. What we do in the physical realm we may do in the moral. As a matter of fact, we all begin life at zero. The child in its mother’s arms is nothing more than “a little bundle of possibilities.” It has no original mathematics, philosophy, poetry, or anything else. It has undeveloped capacities for knowledge, but that is all. They are latent, and must be exercised and trained. So it is with our moral and spiritual faculties. They are there in embryo, and must be developed by exercise. By the grace of God you may overcome all natural inherent weaknesses, and attain unto the stature of a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Moses in his early life was rash, hot-tempered, and violent, but by the grace of God he became the meekest among men. Peter, by nature, was impulsive, vacillating, but by the grace of Christ he developed self-control, and became as steadfast as a rock. The heart of Mary Magdalene was once the home of seven devils, but by the love of Christ it was cleansed, and became the home of the Holy Ghost. Saul of Tarsus was brought up in the narrowest school of the narrowest sect of religionists, but by the grace andtruth of Christ he became a leader in liberal Christian theology. Such transformations of character are possibleto-day. There is a gospel for all of us in this short text, “The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” There is encouragement for the worst man to go to God for help. The Divine Spirit can enlighten the darkest soul, cleanse the foulest heart, ennoble the lowest life. (J. B. Silcox.)
The sympathy of the Divine Spirit
1.Everybody loves to see a great nature that devotes itself to those beneath him. We expect that those who are drawn together by affinity will be devoted to each other. We should expect that if one Lord Bacon were in conference with another, they would sit together and commune all through the live-long night. But to see a man whose head is a vital encyclopaedia, take care, not of children that reward his pains, but of children that are dullards--to see him patiently continuing this labour of love from week to week, working the child along, until he succeeds in getting something into him, is divine.
2. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our”--what? Our high aspirations? Our noblest dreams? Our grandest purposes? Yes; but that is not it. “The Spirit helpeth our infirmities.”
3. What do we understand by infirmity here? Feebleness of the whole economy by which we are to come into knowledge, and through knowledge into virtue, and through virtue into vital godliness--this is the general meaning of infirmity. The attempt to maintain a spiritual life in this world is an attempt against great adversarial powers. It is no small thing for a man borne into a fleshly body, connected with the material world, and beat in upon by ten thousand biasing and sympathising influences which come from the body of human society, to lift himself out from all that is low and carnal into an atmosphere where he can see clearly, and understand, and maintain vigilance, persevering unto the end. And God is not indifferent to the task and tax which one undertakes when, with so many obstacles to contend against, he endeavours to live a life of obedience. He sympathises with the poor and the feeble. Let us specialise some of the spheres of sympathy in which the Spirit of God acts with reference to us.
I. All our bodily weaknesses and sicknesses, and the infelicities that arise from them--men who are in health, are very hard and uncharitable about. Many with whom you have to do disappoint you. Many let fly casual words which irritate you. But if you knew out of what utter weakness these things often come, methinks it would excite in you, as doubtless it does in God, a spirit of pity, rather than of blame. God has sympathy for those who suffer from over-exertion, hunger, thirst, cold, and various wants, or who in despondency are led to do wrong. Society may disregard them, but there is one Heart that never ceases to compassionate them.
II. All the cares or trials which arise from our condition of temporal life have also the sympathy of the Spirit. Men feel that when they go into business they go away from religion. But God made the secular experiences of life to be a means of grace. God made us merchants, and mechanics, and toilers in every way. To work is not the curse. To drudge is. To work is a part of the blessing of our organisation, and of the organisation of society, Intellectual, social, and moral education inheres in that. And our religion is to go with it, And so all the burdens which make men so tired of life are infirmities. They are a part of that constitution of things which God recognises, and which draws the heart of God continually toward men in all helpfulness.
III. God also sympathises with us in all our domestic infirmities. I have noticed that if two violinists play together, although before they came upon the platform they tuned their instruments, no sooner do they get ready to strike off than they try their instruments again. And by the time they have played one or two pieces there is such divergence between the instruments that they require to be again tuned. But the violin of the musician has not one-fifth as many strings as the human violin has, and it is not half as sensitive to the changes of the weather, and does not need to be screwed up or down half so often. And you cannot keep this little mechanical instrument in tune except with great pains. And do you suppose you can take two instruments, each having fifty strings, more susceptible even than those of a violin, and have them in tune one with another, in the midst of the many and powerful influences which are constantly tending to produce discord between them? A man that knows how to take his mind with all its sensibilities, and bring it into tune with Divine love, and who knows how to carry it harmoniously through all the hours of the day, so that it shall all the time be in tune with other minds, has very little to learn before it goes to heaven. Now, our business in life is to try to keep this fiddle of ours so that it shall be at peace, first with its own self, and then with others. The hardest thing for us to do is first to live right within ourselves, and then to live right with each other. Now, in this great conflict, where is so much rasping, it is a comfort to me to hear God say, by His brooding Spirit, “I help in those respects your infirmities.”
IV. The sympathy of God is with the hidden and superior trials of the nobler parts of our souls.
1. There are a great many poetic natures who are subject to extreme variations; who are all flush and hopeful in one hour, and all drooping and empty in another. God sympathises with our moods, with the ever-shifting shades of transient and poetic feeling--which are said to be “imaginary,” as if the imagination were not a fact as much as any other fact in life.
2. Then there are those who are living in a perpetual discontent of this life. They cannot cease to take an interest in it. But there are times when there comes to them such a sense of its littleness that they seem to be as so many ants or worms. The whole economy of life oftentimes seems to be one of such vanity and vexation of spirit that a man is almost willing to lay down his burden. One is tempted, under such circumstances, to doubt himself, to doubt his friends, to doubt everybody and everything. And where this feeling of contempt for one’s fellow-men is accompanied by a sense of one’s own worthlessness, the whole world is good for nothing. In such moods a man is ashamed of himself. Nevertheless, there is a Spirit that helps our infirmity; and that by love brings us back to reason, and to charity, and to peace.
3. Then there are moods in which annihilation reigns. There are times when men of a sensitive nature seem to lose their hold on life. They fall off from the interest of the human race, and from everything. And these arid, desert experiences God understands, pities, and helps.
4. Then there are those moments of intense yearning which turn all common feelings pale--those fears lest truth shall have been a fable--those hours of unspeakable anguish in which men seem to be letting go of all that is most sacred in the past. They are afraid to express their doubts, because there is nothing less sympathised with than doubt; but they may be in a state in which God is preparing them, by suffering, to lead men out of their troubles. God broods over them still. So do not let go of faith and trust. Keep the avenue open between you and God.
Conclusion: In view of the truths thus opened, I remark--
1. That the administrative power of the moral world is love--not power, and not penalty.
2. That cases of the longest delayed repentance arenot without hope. The man that has been the worst in life has encouragement to repent and turn to God.
3. That this sympathy of God is not given as a reward of man’s own well-doing or of his victory in the struggles which he has been called to wage. There is an impression that Christ is a premium giver, and that He says, “If you will work and acquire a capital, then I will help you.” No; there is given you a capital to begin with. “Work out your own salvation … for it is God which worketh in you.” (H. W. Beecher.)
The transformation of hope
1. There is none in heaven or earth nearer to us than the Holy Spirit; yet there is none whose presence is more deeply hidden. Most mysterious is the manner of His Eternal Being. Fatherhood and Sonship we may in some measure realise; but no earthly relation symbolises the procession of the Holy Ghost. And not less inscrutable is the manner of His presence and work in the human soul. Unseen because He is so near, unrecognised for very intimacy, there is no depth of personality whither He will not come; and even the soul which He purifies and strengthens may only discern Him in its own new purity and strength. The bodily eye can never see in its simplicity the light whereby it sees all else; and the Spirit of Truth is Himself hidden from the soul which owes its sight to His illumination.
2. But though He be hidden, though we cannot tell whence He cometh and whither He goeth, we may watch and forward and pray for His work, in others and in ourselves; we may discover and estimate the unearthly impulses andattractions which He exercises, as astronomers can be sure of the presence and influence of some unseen star, by the new force which breaks in on the order of the heavens.
3. Already the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are thechildren of God. Yet this is but the beginning--it doth not yet appear what we shall be. For if we be children, then are we heirs: heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, with whom we shall be also glorified together. On this consummation the apostle’s gaze is now fixed; and from this there streams back a light which changes the whole aspect of the present life. How shall we direct the course whose end we cannot see? What shall we long for, when we see nothing which can satisfy us? “We know not what we should pray for as we ought.” We know not, for it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Not from the blunders of men, but from the inconceivable height of their destiny does the apostle learn how hard it is to pray aright; and his solution of the difficulty is proportionally different. There is a grace which takes the place of knowledge, and brings the will and the aspirations of men into a mysterious harmony with the unseen: a grace which lifts the desires of the human heart above all that this fragment of the universe can offer, and orders its impulses according to a truly universal law; a grace which leads us on when knowledge falters, and will lead when knowledge shall vanish away; a grace which is His gift alone--the grace of hope.
4. By hope we were saved; and prayer is the voice of hope. That same Spirit whose presence disturbs the completeness of this life by the revelation and earnest of eternity, is ever ready to guide the vague craving of our hearts towards His home and ours. Prisoners we must be for a while; but by His help we may be prisoners of hope. He, who comes from the very heart of heaven, He who brings that flush and warmth of Divine joy which can make even the summer of this world seem faint and poor, He can take our restless, bewildered hearts back along the path which He has traversed, to His throne, who made us for Himself, in whom alone we can rest. Not by timid hints of prudent caution, but by the unflagging impulse of an insatiable hope does” He teach us what we should pray for as we ought. Then only are we intrue accord with the world around us, when we, like it, are pressing towards an unseen end, chafing in hope under the bondage of corruption, judging the present and the visible in the light of the glory which shall be revealed. Then only are we living with the whole energy of our manhood when we rise in obedience to the hope that is in us, and trust the guidance of our prayers to the mind of the Spirit. There is a melody in our life, but we shall never catch its rhythm, or enter into its subtle harmonies, till we learn to listen for those higher notes which are: the complement of its imperfection, the resolution of its discords.
5. Therefore let us ever glorify Him who came to help our infirmities by raising our weary and uncertain desires to the only source and end of hope. And let us pray Him never to leave us, but evermore to point our gaze and guide our prayers towards the glory of our unseen goal. May He help us to pray for the world, that through all its changes and losses and strife it may be brought to the attainment of its earnest expectation, the fulfilment of His purpose who created it in love: for the Church, that when all hope is fulfilled by the glorious appearing of her Saviour Christ, she may be arrayed in the righteousness of saints, and the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And lastly, let us watch and strive and pray for ourselves, that no deceitfulness of sin, disappointment, failure, dulness, may break the courage which God gives us, or drag down to earth the effort which His Holy Spirit stirs and guides. In proportion to the saving power of hope are the forces which assail it. Every year we live, the grasp of custom grows firmer upon us, and we find it harder to move with freedom among the thickening hindrances of social life; every year we are tempted afresh to take the ordinary expectation of our fellow-men as the guide of our aspirations, and to think that we may wisely rest when we have found a pleasant background for a life not painfully laborious. There is none in whom the grace of hope is not beset by the easy hopelessness of self-satisfaction. But to some there come fiercer trials than these: the open invitation of sin which is, common enough to call itself general; the lying whispers of temptation. These are antagonists of hope from which only the strength of the Holy Ghost can rescue our hindered souls. He can, He will so rescue and sustain all who seek His presence and listen for His voice; and none can utterly faint who look for the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living; for if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Dean Paget.)
Divine help for spiritual infirmities
First, the patient with his disease, and that is Christians under infirmities. Secondly, the physician with his care, and that is, the Spirit helping these infirmities. First, to speak of the former, here’s the patient with his disease: St. Paul and the rest of believers lying under infirmities. The best Christians have their infirmities and weaknesses. This is true according to a double sense and notion of the word, whether we take it in a moral sense, or a physical. Now, in both of these considerations are the best of Christians subject to infirmities. First, for spiritual or moral infirmities; the infirmities of sin and of soul, God’s children they have their infirmities here. First, in matter of judgment; a great deal of weakness here. The best of God’s servants, they have been sometimes under great mistakes, and fallen into strange kind of errors and fond conceits. There’s hardly any great wit, but it hath some kind of extravagancy with it. Secondly, in point of affection. A great deal of weakness here also; weakness of mind in strength of passion, and that in all the kinds and varieties of it. Thirdly, in point of practice and daily converse. A great deal of weakness and infirmity is there here also, discovering of itself in them upon several occasions, invincible infirmities, and such as they do not easily quit or free themselves from. Infirmities of age and sickness; infirmities of sex and condition; infirmities of temper and natural constitution; infirmities of custom and use, and the like. First, whence it is so for the thing itself. And here there is this brief account which may be given of it: First, the general corruption of nature, which is in part remaining still even in the servants of God themselves. Infirmities are nothing else but branches of the first sin that was committed in the world. Secondly, as from the corruption of nature, so likewise from the imperfection of grace. Thirdly, the assaults of Satan; conflicts with them. To which we may justly add, sometimes Christians own neglect of themselves. Now further, secondly, for the ground of it on God’s part, as to His permission of it, we may take it thus: First, hereby to humble them and to keep down pride in them, to show them what they are of themselves, and what need they have of continual succour and supply from Him, and to be dependant upon His free grace. Secondly, as to prevent pride in themselves, so to prevent also in others an over-willing opinion of them, at least that they may not idolise them and set too high a price upon them, and so have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons. Thirdly, God suffers infirmities in His children for the greater manifestation of His own power and strength in those infirmities. Lastly, God orders these His infirmities to His servants as matters of trial and exercise to them in their Christian course. The consideration of this point may be variously improved by us. First, as a very good direction for the regulating of our Christian converse and communion with one another in the world. Namely, with a great deal of tenderness and condescension and meekness of spirit. Secondly, it teaches us also to take heed of addicting ourselves absolutely to any men’s practice or example. But yet thirdly, this is no ground of excuse to any persons in their wilful miscarriages. First, they are much distinguished in the matter and nature of them for the things themselves. Iniquities, they are grosser abominations, whereas infirmities are lighter miscarriages. Secondly, they are distinguished from the person and principle from whence they proceed. The former, they are the results of the strength of corruption; the latter, they are the effects only of the weakness and imperfection of grace. Thirdly, they are distinguished from the carriage of them, and manner of acting. Infirmities, they proceed with much reluctancy and opposition against them. The second is, as they may be taken physically for the infirmities of mind and body together, and referring to affliction. Their bodies are houses of clay, and their spirits they have a vanity upon them, and therefore it cannot be strange that themselves should be weak and infirm. And then again, as they have frail bodies for the matter of them, so they have sinful souls for the demerit. And it is these which do deserve and occasion these evils to them. The weakness of corruption will breed the weakness of affliction, and sinful bodies will be diseased. This should teach us not to be offended when these things fall out so to be, nor to be dismayed at them. And so now I have done with the first branch ofthis proposition before us: and that is, the patient, together with the disease, Christians under infirmities, our infirmities. The second is the physician together with the cure, and that is the Spirit helping our infirmities. The spirit may be taken two manner of ways, as it is elsewhere in Scripture; either first, for our own spirit, the spirit of man. Or secondly, for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. Now it is true in some sense of either, that it does help our infirmities. First, it is true in some sense of our own spirit, according to that of Solomon, “The spirit of manwill sustain his infirmities” (Pro_18:14). “A merry heart does good like a medicine” (Pro_17:22). And a man’s reason, it does sometimes help his passion. But secondly, not to trouble you with impertinencies. This is not that which is to be understood here in this place. The Spirit here in the text is not our own spirit, but the Spirit of God, who is here by a special emphasis called the Spirit. The word here also which is translated “help” is likewise very emphatical, which is an expression taken from two persons or more, which are to lift up some heavy burden and do mutually help one another by standing at each end of the burden, one over against the other. Or if ye will, from nurses which, attending sick persons, do stay them and lift them up in their beds, being ready of themselves to fail and faint away. Even thus does the Spirit of God with His servants in their manifold infirmities; He does co-operate and concur with them, and sustain them, and hold them up. Whilst it is said here in this place that the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, we are to take those infirmities in the full latitude and extent of them. First, we may take it of moral and sinful infirmities. The Spirit of God helps us here, not to them--take heed of that--but in them, and from them, and about them, and in reference to them. And so His help to this purpose may be ranked into two sorts: First, that help which He gives us against corruptions, for the avoiding of them. First, the Spirit helps our infirmities; that is, He overawes our temptations and removes our corruptions from us. Grace, it corrects nature and takes away the distempers of it. The Spirit of God, wherever He comes, He makes a change inthat soul and fits it for His own residence and abode in it. The consideration hereof should teach us to give up ourselves to His gracious guidance and governance of us, and influence upon us. Secondly, He helps us also in our infirmities by giving us strength unto duty. So that the Spirit helps our infirmities so far forth as He assists our prayers. First, by His gracious acceptance. The Spirit helps our infirmities thus by bearing with us in what is done by us, notwithstanding the infirmities which are in us. Acceptance of endeavour is a great help ofinfirmity. As David says of himself, “The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will accept my prayer” (Psa_6:9). Thus does He help our infirmities in reference to His gracious acceptance. Secondly, by His gracious assistance. He helps them here also. “When I am weak, then am I strong,” (2Co_12:10). “And I can do all things through Christ that strengthens us” (Php_4:10). There’s a double weakness or infirmity upon us which is considerable in us in point of duty. First, in our indispositions to duty, by provoking us and exciting us hereunto, and putting us upon it. But secondly, in our insufficiency in duty, the Spirit helps our infirmities here likewise; where we flag and are apt to fail in the performance, He does there strengthen us in it. This, for the use of it, serves first of all as a matter of great comfort and encouragement to the servants of God in those duties which are undertaken by them, that they have so strong and able ashelper as this to go along with them. In great difficulties men love to have great assistance. Secondly, it serves by way of direction. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities, that is, it is His work and office to do it, though for such a particular time and season He may suspend the actual performance, which is to be inquired into by us. And we are to be humbled in ourselves for His occasional withdrawings from us. Thirdly, it teaches us not to go forth in our own strength in any duty which we take in hand, but to fetch strength and power from the Spirit, and to depend upon Him for His assistance. Lastly, in all our performances where we find ourselves to be at any time anything more enlarged than other, let us acknowledge this work of the Spirit in His assistance of us, and be thankful to Him for it. “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name we give the praise.” Now, secondly, it holds good also as to the infirmities of trouble and affliction. The Spirit of God does help the children of God even in those infirmities likewise. Thus Psa_94:17-18. Now the Spirit of God is active in us to this purpose, upon a various account. First, by virtue of His office, and that work which does more properly and peculiarly belong unto Him (Joh_14:26; 2Co_7:6; Rom_15:5). Secondly, His promise, by virtue of that also, Thirdly, from His nature, He helps us because He pities us. Lastly, taking this Spirit more particularly for the Spirit of Christ, from the similitude and likeness of condition. He helps our infirmities as having taken our infirmities upon Him. Now, if it shall be further demanded by what ways and in what manner this is done, we may take it briefly in these following particulars. First, by His counsel, directing us what to do and how to carry ourselves in such conditions. Secondly, as the Spirit helps by His counsel, soalso by His comfort. Thirdly, the Spirit helps by His assistance and particular relief in our particular condition. Lastly, the Spirit helps our infirmities by His intercession which He makes in our hearts, as it is here expressed in the text. First, seeing the Spirit helps our infirmities, it concerns us therefore to be very careful how we carry ourselves towards this Spirit, and in a special manner to take heed of grieving of Him. Secondly, where we are at any time enabled, or see any others enabled before us, to endure any afflictions whatsoever without fainting and sinking under it. Let us see here to whom to acknowledge it and to give the glory of it; and that is to the Spirit of God alone, who alone is herein helpful to us. Thirdly, we see here the advantage and privilege of the servants of God in all the infirmities which are incident to them, whether moral or natural. (Thomas Horton, D.D.)
Prayer aided by the Divine Spirit
We begin with the first of these parts, viz., the defect or infirmity--“We know not what to pray for,” etc. Now, there is a threefold impotency or defect. First, in reference to the very performance itself. God’s people are sometimes in that condition, as they cannot set themselves seriously to such a duty as this is, but are very indisposed hereunto. And there are divers causes of this obstruction to them. As, first, distempers of body, and the infirmities which arise from that. When the body is out of frame, it puts the soul out of frame also, and indisposes it to that which is good. Secondly, from distraction of mind and perplexity of spirit. This does likewise very much disturb them in this particular. Thirdly, from some special corruption and inordinate passion which surprises them. This does very much hinder them likewise. Lastly, too much interest and involution in worldly affairs. This, if it be not the better heeded and more carefully looked into, it will very much take off the mind from such a business as this is. It will take up the time as to the undertaking of the performance, and it will take off the heart as to the managing of it. If Christians were more careful to pray when they might, they would be more able to pray when they should; but when they willingly or carelessly withdraw from it, they are sometimes unwillingly and against their minds obstructed in it. Secondly, where it is at any time thus with us, we should accordingly be affected in it. First, to be humbled for it. Secondly, to inquire into the cause and occasion of it, and to examine from whence it proceeds. Thirdly, not to lie down under them, but to strive to overcome them all we can. As we are required sometimes to eat against stomach, for the better strengthening of nature, so we are required to pray against stomach also, for the strengthening of grace. The second is of ignorance, in reference to the matter of it. “We know not what we should pray for.” First, in asking things which are absolutely sinful and unlawful. They know not what they should pray for in this. Secondly, in asking things which are unseasonable. There is a miscarriage in this also. There are some things which do well at one time which do not so well at another. Everything is beneficial at its season. Thirdly, in asking things which are unsuitable and inconvenient for us; at least which are very uncertain and under very much hazard. We know not oftentimes what to ask, because we know not many times what it is which is worth the asking. For that which we may judge to be very desirable, it may in conclusion prove the quite contrary. The consideration of this point may be thus far useful to us. First, as from hence to satisfy us in the denial of those petitions which are sometimes made by us. Secondly, forasmuch as of ourselves, we know not what to pray for, we should therefore beg of God to direct us, and to suggest such things unto us as are fittest tobe prayed for by us. It is a great matter to know what to pray for, and that which is exceeding profitable and beneficial to us. Thirdly, this teaches us to ask nothing absolutely, but with submission to the will of God. Forasmuch as we may mistake. The third is in the manner or carriage of it; how, and as we ought. This is another thing which Christians are sometimes apt to fail in. And so now I have done with the first part of the text, which is the defect or infirmity itself here mentioned in these words, “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” The second is the happy supply of this defect in these words, “But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered.” First, forthe assistance itself. “The Spirit maketh intercession for us.” There is a two-fold intercession for us which we read of in Scripture. The one is the intercession of Christ Himself; and the other is the intercession of the Spirit of Christ. The former of these we read of in verse 34, speaking of Christ, who also maketh intercession for us. The latter we have here in this verse which we have now in hand. The one is an intercession for us, as it is a speaking in our behalf; and the other is an intercession in us, as it is an enabling of us to speak ourselves. The Holy Ghost Himself makes intercession for us, so far forth as He helps us to pray (Mat_10:20; Zec_12:10; Gal_4:6). In these and the like places of Scripture, is the Holy Ghost set forth unto us as the helper and promoter of our prayers, and as one that makes intercession for us. Now, this we may conceive Him to do by divers operations. First, by sanctifying of our persons and putting us into such a capacity, as from whence we may with boldness draw nigh to the throne of grace. The wise man tells us, “Thatthe sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, and that the prayer of the upright [only] is His delight” (Pro_15:8). Secondly, by putting our hearts into a praying and begging frame. For though a man may be a true child of God, yet he may not be always in a praying temper. Therefore the Holy Ghost prepares the heart for this performance (Psa_10:17). Thirdly, by suggesting to us what at any time we shall pray for. Fourthly, by stirring up such graces in us as are requisite to the performance of prayer in a right and holy manner. This may serve to teach us how to make our addresses to God in prayer upon all occasions, namely, so as desiring the help of His Spirit in those performances. “Prayingalways, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,” as it is in Eph_6:18. And again, “Prayingin the Holy Ghost,” as it is in the Epistle of Jude and verse 20. And so much may suffice to have spoken of the first particular in this passage, which is the help or assistance itself, which is here vouchsafed, “The Spirit itself making intercession for us.”The second is the conveyances of it to us, or the manner wherein it is effected. And that is in these words, “Withgroanings which cannot be uttered.” By groanings, here in this place, we are not only, as I conceive, to understand secret complaints which do proceed from bitterness of Spirit in us, although these principally and especially; but by groanings we are here as well to understand any other secret workings of the heart towards God in converse and communion with Him. That which we may observe from hence is this, that there may be prayer sometimes, there where yet there is not speech or vocal expression. A man may cry mightily to God even there where sometimes he utters, as to the outward hearing of it, never a word. This, for the use of it, is first of all a very great comfort to all the true children of God as concerns their communion with Him, where they are hindered or at any time denied the opportunity of outward expression. First, it is very satisfactory m a weakness and defect of parts, and such and such gifts. Secondly, it is also comfortable in all afflictions and distresses. Last of all, in the multitude of business and variety of occasions in the day, which take men up, that still they may have converse with the Lord in these frequent ejaculations towards Him. But yet this must also be warily and cautiously taken by us. That we abuse not such a point as this is to sluggishness and neglect. Though this working of the heart in groans and sighs in some cases may be prayer, yet we are not to content ourselves with this alone where we have further ability andopportunity afforded unto us. Prayer is another kind of business than the world thinks it, or takes it to he. It is one thing to talk to God, and it is another thing to pray to Him, which is here in the text expressed by “groaningwhich cannot be uttered.” Where again we must further take heed that we be not mistaken neither. There is a double groaning or sighing which a man is capable of in prayer; the one as a work of nature, and the other as a work of grace. (Thomas Horton, D.D.)
Our infirmities helped
I.The predominant characteristic of the Christian is prayer. This is clear from the preceding context, and from the nature of the ease. What is past is for rest and praise--not for prayer and on-reaching.
1. All true believers are praying men. This is and must be a universal characteristic.
2. Prayer must be essentially our own. Another man’s hunger is not my hunger, even when both of us are hungry alike. And so another man’s prayer or yearning are not mine.
II. The success of prayer is hindered by our infirmities. Everything that deadens hope or that makes us contented to be as we are, will hinder prayer.
1. Infirmities of flesh. “The spirit indeed is wilting, but the flesh is weak.”
2. Infirmities of our faith. “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Psa_77:10).
3. Infirmities of conscience. These arise from the spirit of bondage and lead to timidity and superstition.
4. Infirmities of judgment. The judgments we form of Divine truth will exert a considerable influence over our character. And it is here that our weakness often appears.
5. Infirmities of temper. We all know how irascibility interferes with the calmness of prayer and spoils our devotion.
III. The Spirit is our great helper, both in the offering of prayer and in the success of it.
1. Our longings are often of a vague and indefinite character. Our religious feelings are often earnest and real, yet shapeless and indeterminate; and so our prayers, which are but our endeavours to utter what we feel, are often nothing better than a groan. We want clear light. Is not this the case supposed in our text?
2. There is One concerned in this endeavour of ours. In this wordless and unutterable longing of the soul there is One who is helping us.
3. Though we do not understand, yet He that searcheth the heart does. We ask for what, if suddenly given, would surprise us, but the Spirit means all that. When I ask “to be what God would have me be,” should I become so at once, how wonderful would be the reality--beyond what I thought when I prayed! And so “Thy kingdom come.” Truly I mean it; but have I a conception of its meaning and compass? The Spirit means it, and “he that,” etc. (P. Strutt.)
The Spirit helping our infirmities
I. The Christian infirmities in prayer. The word means weakness, sickness, and intimates debility in our moral constitution. The diseases of our nature once produced moral death. In the process of regeneration our recovery commences; but the condition of the patient is that of great infirmity; this is seen especially in the duty of prayer. His spirit is faint, his desires are languid, his efforts are feeble. This infirmity appears--
1. In our ignorance of the proper subject of prayer. “We know not what to pray for.” “Lord, teach us to pray.” This appears in our supplication--
(1) For the blessings of providence. We are mercifully permitted to make these the subject of prayer (Php_4:6). But who knoweth what is good for man? The events of Providence form a system of moral discipline by which God would train us for His service on earth, and prepare us for the enjoyment of His presence in heaven. Now in what danger are we, by our prayers, of interfering with God’s plans, and of asking what may be injurious to us, and deprecating what may be good to us. God gave Israel their desire, but He sent leanness into their souls. St. Paul, smarting under the anguish of the thorn in the flesh, prayed thrice that it might depart from him; but God knew better than His servant did what was good for him.
(2) Spiritual blessings. The Word of God presents us with an almost infinite variety of topics for prayer. But how often none of these are present to the mind; how often the thoughts are distracted!
2. Our want of the proper spirit of prayer. “We know not what to pray for as we ought.” We ought to pray--
(1) With the profoundest reverence, But how often we come under the influence of feelings, light, careless, undevout!
(2) With the deepest humility. But how often do we pray with a heart cold--aye, proud, impenitent, insensible.
(3) With the greatest importunity; for the blessings we seek are of great magnitude--the evils we deprecate are of the greatest duration. But how often do our feelings almost expire through our weakness!
(4) In faith, for “he that cometh to God must believe that He is,” etc., and in the power of, and in reliance on, Christ. But how often do we question these, and thus expect but seldom the blessings we supplicate!
(5) With infinite perseverance, knowing that it will come, though the blessing be delayed. But how often do we grow weary and faint in our minds!
II. The gracious succours, which, in the performance of this duty, the Christian derives from the agency of the Holy Spirit. He “helpeth our infirmities,” He bears them with us. He does not intend to supersede human agency, but to excite, invigorate, encourage. He will not work without you, you cannot work without Him; but you are to be co-workers. He “maketh intercession for us,” by helping us to make intercession for ourselves (verse 15; cf.Gal_4:6). The Spirit helpeth our infirmities by--
1. Exciting us to prayer. Subduing our natural repugnance, convincing us of the advantages and efficacy of prayer, and implanting within us those affections which dispose us topray.
2. Impressing us in prayer with an affecting consciousness of our wants. Our fervour will be in proportion to our sense of want. It is part of the Spirit’s office to produce an urgent conviction of want. If evils are concealed, the Spirit shows man to himself, and places before him attractive in array those blessings adapted to the supply of his wants.
3. Imparting to us importunity in prayer “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” It was thus that the cruelties endured by the Israelites could not be told in words, but it is said their groanings reached the ears and pierced the heart of God. It was thus that David said, “Lord … my groaning is not hid from Thee,” and that Christ “groaned in spirit, and was troubled.” So the whole creation is represented as groaning. And Christians “groan within themselves, groan being burdened,” till mortality is swallowed up of life. The Christian’s life is a conflict; and often his sorrows and desires are too big for utterance; there is a feeling, deep, complicated, unutterable, which God only can understand. And He understandeth it, because He knoweth the mind of that Spirit, which maketh intercession for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered.
4. Presenting to the mind encouraging views of the mediation of Christ in prayer. He helps our infirmities by enabling us to plead the blood, and to rely on the sacrifice of the Son of God.
5. Inspiring us with confidence in the Divine promises.
6. Making the duty exceedingly delightful to us. When we pray without the Spirit our prayers are formal, lifeless, insipid, a drudgery. But if we pray under His direction, we engage in the most delightful exercise. The scene of prayer becomes the gate of heaven.
7. Securing the success of our prayers. There is an inseparable oneness between the mind of the Spirit and the will of the Father. If you pray for things which are not according to the will of God, the Holy Spirit does not authorise it, because God cannot deny Himself. But if you are under His agency, you are sure to attain what you pray for. (J. Bowers.)
The Spirit helping our infirmities
I.The Holy Spirit strengthens and bears us up in our weaknesses and troubles, that we may not faint under them.
1. It is a great infirmity if a Christian should faint in the day of trouble (Pro_24:10). Partly because there is so little reason for a Christian’s fainting. Who should be more undisturbed than he who hath God for his God, Christ for his Saviour, and the Spirit for his Comforter, and heaven for his portion? Partly because there is so much help from God (Psa_138:3) and partly because of the mischiefs which follow this fainting. There is a twofold fainting.
(1) That which causeth great trouble and dejection of spirit (Heb_12:3). Now this is a great evil in a child of God; for the spirit of a man, or natural courage, will go far as to the sustaining of foreign evils (Pro_18:14). Therefore a Christian, with all his faith and hope, should strive against it (Psa_77:7-10).
(2) That which causeth dejection and falling off from God. This worse becometh the children of God (Rev_2:3; Gal_6:9).
2. In this weakness, if we are left to ourselves, we cannot support ourselves. This appeareth partly because they that have but a light tincture of the Spirit give up at the first assault (Mat_13:21), and partly because the most resolved, if not duly possessed with a sense of their own weakness, soon miscarry, if not in whole, yet in part; witness Peter (Mat_26:33-35).
3. When we cannot support ourselves through our weakness, the Spirit helpeth us (Eph_3:16; 1Pe_1:5; 1Co_10:13).
4. They that rouse themselves, and use all means, are in a nearer capacity to receive influences from the Spirit than others (Psa_27:14; Psa_31:24).
II. Prayer is one special means by which the Holy Spirit helpeth God’s children in their troubles.
1. Troubles are sent, not to drive us from God, but to draw us to Him (Psa_50:15).
2. Prayer is a special means to ease the heart of our burdensome cares and fears (Php_4:6).
3. It is a special means of acknowledging God--
(1) As the fountain of our strength and support (1Pe_5:10).
(2) As the author of our deliverance (2Ti_4:18).
III. The prayers of the godly come from God’s Spirit. Note--
1. The manner in which the Spirit concurreth to the prayers of the faithful. First, there is the spirit of a man, for the Holy Ghost makes use of our understandings for the actuating of our will and affections; He bloweth up the fire, though it be our hearts that burn within us. Secondly, thenew nature in a Christian is more immediately and vigorously operative in prayer than in most other duties; and the exercise of faith, love, and hope in prayer doth flow from the renewed soul as the proper inward and vital principle of these actions; so that we, and not the Spirit of God, are said to repent, believe, and pray. More distinctly the Holy Ghost--
(1) Directs and orders our requests so as they may suit with our great end, which is the enjoyment of God.
(2) He quickens our desires in prayers.
(3) He encourages us to come to God as a Father (chap. 8:15; Gal_4:6).
(a) Childlike confidence (Luk_11:13.
(b) Childlike reverence (Mal_1:6; 1Pe_1:17).
2. The necessity of this help.
(1) The order and economy of the Divine persons showeth it. God is our reconciled God and Father, to whom we come; Christ the Mediator, through whom we come, and the Spirit our Guide, by whom we come (Eph_2:18).
(2) That prayer may carry proportion with other duties.
(3) Because of our impotency (Corinthians 12:3).
(4) With respect to acceptance (verse 27).
3. Cautions against some abuses and mistakes in prayer.
(1) This is not so to be understood as if the matter of prayer were immediately to be inspired by the Holy Ghost.
(2) Nor as if we should never pray till the Spirit moveth us.
(3) Nor as if because we have not such freedom of words asmay give vent to spiritual affections, we have not the spirit of prayer. There may be a great extravagance of words, without faith, or feeling, or spiritual affections.
(4) Nor as if all that pray graciously had the Spirit in a like measure, or the same persons always in the same measure (Joh_3:7).
(5) Gifts are more necessary when we join with others, and are their mouth to God; but the spirit of prayer is of most use when we are alone. (T. Manton, D.D.)
The Spirit’s help in prayer
Whatever of good is found in us is the result of a Divine influence. So our Bibles teach us; but the same truth has been affirmed by men who never saw the Bible. “Never did man attain to true greatness,” writes Cicero, in one place, “without being the subject of a Divine inspiration,” whilst another of the ancient philosophers says, “There is a holy Spirit which dwelleth within us--as we treat Him, so He treateth us, and He it is from whom every good man receiveth both honourable and upright purposes.” How these heathens came by this knowledge, except as part of some traditional and half-preserved revelation, itseems hard to explain. Consider--
I. The infirmities which the text speaks of as being so great a hindrance to prayer. The word describes a sickness or positive disease in the moral system, incapacitating us for the employments which, in a healthy frame of spirit, would be our privilege and delight.
1. Ignorance, unskilledness in not knowing how to order our prayer before God, or to bring our spirit to an adequate appreciation of the work in which we are about to engage. TheDivine Being must be felt to be present as an actual personal subsistence--a power willing to be sought, inclined to hearken, able to relieve, mighty to save. The formalist is at no effort to conceive of the presence of such a being while he is praying. The terminating object of his prayer is the prayer itself, and he does not look behind it. But the moment feelings of needed help and desired peace enter into our prayer, those perfunctory performances no longer satisfy us, we must be brought into near converse with God. That this difficulty discourages many in their first attempt at prayer will be readily admitted. “Teach us what we shall say unto God,” says Elihu, “for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.” Whilst Job himself exclaims, “O that I knew where I might find Him,” etc. Indeed, we may not hesitate to include a regard to this form of infirmity as being among the contemplated ends of our Divine Lord’s incarnation.
2. Mistaken desires, hurtful and unwise choices in regard to what will make for our true happiness. Sometimes we pray for things positively hurtful to us, as when the Israelites prayed for meat in the wilderness; sometimes for things not wrong in themselves, but yet wrong because in an unsubmissive spirit, as when Rebecca said, “God, give me children, or else I die.” We ask for medicines to be taken away which are working heaven’s kindest cures, and we desire change in our outward lot which can only encompass us with new dangers and snares.
3. Unfixed and unworthy thoughts. The apostle prayed for the Corinthians--“That we may attend on the Lord without distraction,” which describes a mind divided and rent by a multitude of contending thoughts, each demanding our fixed and earnest heed, all attended to in turn, but none appeased. And the apostle’s prayer is, that God’s footstool may never be made the place of such unseemly strife, but in that awful presence the heart may be at unity in itself, having one care to absorb, one errand to fulfil, one presence to realise, one voice to hear.
II. In what way the influence of the Holy Spirit may be said to help us against them.
1. He “helpeth,” an expression which describes the joint bearing with the person helped, of a burden pressing upon both. The burden is not taken off, but there is a sustaining hand underneath which lightens the grievance of the pressure. The text therefore promises not a removed burden, but an ability to bear; not the supersession of your own exertions and means, but a gracious throwing in of the Holy Spirit’s succours to make those means effectual.
2. He “maketh intercession for us.” He is said to do that which He enables us to do. He is the source, and strength, and food of our whole devotional life. He moulds us into the praying frame; He suggests to us praying thoughts; He forms in us the praying habit.
3. He “maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (D. Moore, M.A.)
The help of the Spirit
I. An equality of ignorance. “We know not.” There are many questions that bring people to this equality. A child may ask a question that a philosopher cannot answer. So Paul was sometimes as ignorant of the will of God concerning him as the weakest disciple.
II. An equality of help. Our infirmities. Literally, the Spirit lifts “with” us, not for us; our weak effort is made available by His might. A boy is trying to row a heavy boat: he is powerless to lift the oars, his father comes behind, and lays one hand on each oar, and rows with him.
III. A common medium by which our desires are put in harmony with the will of God. “Groanings which cannot be uttered.” The cry of the infant is interpreted by its mother, the sigh of the sick man is as good as words to the nurse, so the groaning (Psa_102:5) and the weeping (Psa_6:8) are voices in the ear of God. (W. Harris)
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Our ignorance as to legitimate subjects for prayer
Pythagorasforbade his disciples to pray for themselves, because they knew not what was expedient. Socrates more wisely taught his disciples to pray simply for good things, the gods knowing best what sort of things are good. But better illustrations are found in Paul’s own expression (Php_1:22; Php_1:3); and in that of our Lord (Joh_12:27-28). (Archdeacon Gifford.)
Prayer--for help to pray
In Dr. Ryland’s memoir of Andrew Fuller is the following anecdote. At a conference at Soham, a friend of slender abilities being asked to pray, knelt down, and Mr. Fuller and the company with him, when he found himself so embarrassed:, that, whispering to Mr. Fuller, he said, “I do not know how to go on.” Mr. Fuller replied in a whisper, “Tell the Lord so.” The rest of the company did not hear what passed between them, but the man, taking Mr. Fuller’s advice, began to confess his not knowing how to pray as he ought to pray, begging to be taught to pray, and so proceeded in prayer to the satisfaction of all the company. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The help of the Divine Spirit
I go into the studio of my friend the artist, and he makes the outline. I recognise the likeness to some extent as my friend’s, but it is not perfect. He takes his pencil, and, as he gazes upon the countenance he wishes to express, he applies the pencil, and by degrees, by touch after touch, the likeness comes out, until at last, when finished, it is perfected so far as it may be perfected, and I say it is the perfect likeness of my friend. So the Holy Spirit has been sitting on your hearts, and, I humbly trust, on mine. There is Jesus, the great example. Here is my heart. The rude outlines have been already formed. I have been adopted into the family. I bear a family likeness; I can be recognised as something like the blessed Saviour, be it ever so little, but the Holy Spirit is changing, transforming, touching this part and that, making me a little more loving and more meek, more self-denying, more active, until by and by I shall be brought into His likeness; it shall be said: “It is enough”; and then, released from mortality, I shall mount up as on wings of eagles; I shall see Him in glory. (H. W. Beecher.)
Encouragements to prayer for the weak and oppressed
Consider--
I. The discouragements that weak believers experience in their attempts to pray. We do not now refer to the many external discouragements. A devotional spirit may be restrained and destroyed from worldly associations, a multiplicity of engagements, but the apostle calls on us to notice those internal discouragements that arise from “our infirmities.” Even the apostles were not exempt from the infirmities which are found--
1. In the matter of our prayers. “We know not what to pray for.” This arises--
(1) From ignorance.
(2) From a moral destitution.
(3) From a want of suitable dispositions of mind.
2. In the manner of our prayers. We know not how to pray as we ought. So confused, unconnected, and incoherent, are our prayers. If our petitions are not immediately answered, we are unwilling to wait any longer. “We knock at mercy’s door and run away.” There is oftentimes much pride and selfishness mixed with our prayers. Sometimes the desire of a present indulgence makes us forgetful of duties, an attention to which would yield us more solid and lasting enjoyment. Sometimes the dread of a present evil leads to the use of arguments and expressions unsuited to our true character and condition.
II. The encouragement we have to seek Divine assistance in this important duty. In reference to this promise of the Spirit’s intercession and help. Observe--
1. That it does not render the exercise of the mind unnecessary (1Co_14:15). We are not dealt with as automatons in religion.
2. Neither does it render nugatory the intercession of Christ (verse 34). Both are necessary. There is a material difference in their intercession. Christ pleads and procures our reconciliation and pardon, without us; the Spirit co-operates to the same end by His gracious influences within us. Christ by His all-sufficient merits intercedes for His people now in heaven; the Spirit is engaged in applying the benefits of His death to our hearts here on earth.
3. But the promise is designed to teach us that the agency of the Spirit in prayer is indispensable. It is called the Spirit of grace and supplication, and we are exhorted to pray in the Holy Ghost. And our Saviour shows that we cannot rightly perform the dutywithout it (Luk_11:10-13).
III. The use we should make of this subject. It should serve--
1. To quicken the indolent.
2. To encourage thetimid.
3. To alarm the presumptuous. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.
The intercession of the Spirit in prayer
“We know not.” This ignorance is twofold--
1. Of the gifts to be asked for.
(1) If we knew what we needed our great necessity for prayer would pass away. How many of our prayers are produced by a consciousness of deadness of emotion in which we are tempted to feel that we are “rich and have need of nothing.” And because we know this to be a delusion we are driven to cry to God to show us our poverty.
(2) Our ignorance of our souls is sufficient proof of our ignorance of the gifts to be sought from God. For before we ask absolutely for any temporal gift we should know what influence as a new temptation it would have on us. What appear the safest requests have a peril of their own. Like Agur we may ask for neither poverty nor riches, but the blessing asked for contains a temptation to fancy oneself free from the sins of both states. Who has not sometimes found it to be a great blessing that his prayers have remained unanswered?
(3) The awful fact of human influence seems, when realised, to be an effective barrier to absolute praying. Who, not knowing What result it might produce, dare ask for one gift, seeing that if he fails, he may drag a brother down with him in his fall.
(4) Pass on to petitions for spiritual blessings. It may be said that we can rightly ask for such; and so
