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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Today’s message will be a bit different in that it will make some needed points about the central text we have been studying for the last four days; first we present the text: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8.26-28).
The Spirit is spoken of here as making intercession and that statement is connected to the phrase “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” If this verse means what many force it to mean, Paul is saying that the Spirit is the one doing the groaning. While the sentence structure might seem to indicate that to be the case, common sense dictates otherwise. The author of human speech does not speak in meaningless grunts or groans; He speaks in words just the way He teaches us to communicate. Unintelligible sounds simply are not in God’s vocabulary. The point just here is the fact that even when we seemingly can do nothing but cry out to God (regardless of the words and how eloquent or coarse the words or phrases) He hears our heart’s desire and He does so through the Spirit, our intercessor!
A few additional comments are in order about “all things work[ing] together for good.” The context is strictly limited to the realm where God dwells and the way He reacts to the difficult places in which we sometimes find ourselves. The “all things” is limited to the all things under consideration and is not an open-ended affirmation. It is not a good thing when a baby dies; it is not a good thing when a calamity snuffs out the lives of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people; it is not a good thing when I sin; it is not a good thing when time runs out and a person enters eternity in an unprepared state.
The affirmation is simply that God is constantly and continually working with a view toward our good! He is able to influence the events in the lives of humanity such that even those things which are not good, can turn out for good. Joseph is a prime example of this kind of care exercised by the Father. What his brothers intended for harm, God used as a means to accomplish good (see Genesis 50.15-21). God can use any circumstance to achieve something good and honorable, even when the thing itself is evil or wrong! God works nothing but good and this on behalf of His children.
In the text under consideration, God the Father and God the Spirit work together, the Spirit being the intercessor, but each working only that which is good. A marvelous but somewhat obscure passage from the Old Testament sheds light on God’s designs for humanity: “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16.9). God is busy even now as He was then; He works for our good!
Questions:
1. Who is doing the groaning in the focus text?
2. Are God’s actions always good? What about the result of God’s actions? Where man’s free will is concerned, is God’s will always accomplished?
3. How has God shown Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him? How diligent is He in looking for those kinds of opportunities?
4. God works for us, the Spirit intercedes for us, and Jesus is our advocate! Can you think of anything in this world more awesome than this arrangement?
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