My nephew is 11 years old, and is precocious and wise beyond his years. He knows what he wants, and all year he’s wanted a builder set of a superhero car. My nephew worked odd jobs all year around the house, and whenever he was paid he deposited his money into his piggy bank. He kept it on top of his bookcase to keep it away from his sister (even though she could easily reach up there and would periodically tease him by pretending to do so).
By the end of the year he had saved $40, which my sister matched so that he can purchase his superman car builder set. The day it arrived was a joyful and exciting day, but the joy was immediately dampened by the enormity of the task at hand. The builder set had over 2000 pieces and a 27-page book instruction manual. In order to get his superman car, my nephew would have to work hard. And he did, with me as his assistant (my job was to organize the pieces).
A Deep Sigh
After our sixth hour of work (we were only on page 7 of the instruction manual), I let out a gasp. One of the pieces of the builder’s set was missing! We spent the next two hours searching our surroundings to no avail. Then my nephew put his face in his hands and let out a long deep sigh.
I know that sigh very well. There have been moments in my life when, despite all the planning that I’ve done, just when I thought that my hard work was going to pay off, a setback, or a missing piece, would make me wonder if it was all worth the trouble. In my walk with God, I have discovered that sometimes, a deep sigh is prayer enough. The master of the universe takes a moment to let us know that everything is going to be ok.
My nephew gathered his courage, and together we searched for another 90 minutes. Then he had the brilliant idea to look under the superhero car we had been building. And there it was: the missing piece.
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 through wordless groans (Romans 8:26, NIV).
Jael Amador writes from New York.
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