In this scene of confusion and distraction'
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"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for—but the
Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words
cannot express." Romans 8:26
"We do not know what we ought to pray for." How
often do we find and feel this to be our case . . .
darkness covers our mind;
ignorance pervades our soul;
unbelief vexes our spirit;
guilt troubles our conscience;
a crowd of evil imaginations, or foolish or worse
than foolish wanderings distract our thoughts;
Satan hurls in thick and fast his fiery darts;
a dense cloud is spread over the mercy-seat;
infidelity whispers its vile suggestions,
until, amid all this rabble throng, such confusion
and bondage prevail that words seem idle breath,
and prayer to the God of heaven but empty mockery.
In this scene of confusion and distraction, when
all seems going to the wreck—how kind, how gracious
is it in the blessed Spirit to come, as it were, to the
rescue of the poor bewildered saint, and to teach
him how to pray and what to pray for.
He is therefore said "to help our weaknesses," for
these evils of which we have been speaking are not
wilful, deliberate sins, but wretched infirmities of
the flesh. He helps, then, our infirmities—by subduing
the power and prevalence of unbelief—by commanding
in the mind a solemn calm—by rebuking and chasing
away Satan and his fiery darts—by awing the soul with
a reverential sense of the power and presence of God—
by presenting Jesus before our eyes as the Mediator at
the right hand of the Father—by raising up and drawing
forth faith upon His Person and work, blood and
righteousness—and, above all, by Himself interceding
for us and in us "with groans that words cannot express."
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