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. And we know that God causes everything to work together] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:26-28 NLT
Our craving for certainty, for “closure,” is often a pathway for making more eventual chaos and lack of peace in our lives. We give in to the thought that we need to do something to handle or manage it. We do something to make the situation end prematurely. We manipulate people and events to get the results we think we want. We end up with a tangled mess and poor results that often last a lifetime. In our confusion we often will say things like, “I don’t even know how to pray about this. But I have to do something.”
The “do something” that will keep you from further chaos and confusion always starts with prayer. Of course we can pray like Jesus did, telling God the deepest desires of our heart. Jesus told His Father, “If there’s any other way to do this, please take this cross away from me. BUT whatever you know is best, do that.” When we do that, trusting God as our Father, we get enough clarity that He will always do what is best for us and everyone concerned that we are able to wait and let Him work. That is “praying through.” We may not pray through to an exact answer, but we pray through to peace that He will do what we one day will realize was exactly right.
Sometimes we do know the preferred result that actually is the will of God, such as someone’s salvation. We know that them coming to know, love, and follow Jesus is God’s heart desire and will as well, so we have deep confusion about why they don’t respond, fear for their situations, wanting specific changes to happen now. In those moments we “pray through” to the peace that comes when we know God cares about these people more than we do and has the power to do and say what we cannot.
But often when we need to pray, our hearts are so confused, broken, and pained that we truly have no idea what to pray. That’s fine. Prayer is never supposed to be us telling God what to do. HE knows. And He cares so much that the Holy Spirit prays for us with a passion that can’t be put into words. He prays completely in harmony with God’s will, and then God works all things out for good. So, we pray through to peace and wait in confidence. Because of this, when I don’t know WHAT to pray, I do know TO pray. I say with the deepest heart and passion, “O GOD …YOU KNOW.” And I leave it there in peace.
- Pray through to peace. It’s your best option. It’s always a safe place.