This week a friend of mine is sitting at the bedside of her mother in ICU. They don’t know what is causing an infection and fever and pneumonia. Lots of folks are praying for her and her family. But what should be the content of those prayers?

The most common objection I hear when people are asked to pray in public is “I wouldn’t know what to say.”

Just before my father died, I stood by myself in a hospital chapel trying to talk to God but all I could do was sob and weep.

At a memorial service many years ago for a young lady who lost twin babies before they were born, she let out a mournful groan the likes of which I had never heard in my life. I like to think that was her prayer at that moment.

Romans 8:26–27 “²⁶ 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. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

“Groans that words cannot express.” Sometimes that is all you’ve got. It is also all you need. The Spirit of God is there to understand and hear your plea. The Greek word rendered as “groan” here can also be translated as “sigh.” I have learned that groans and sighs can be very expressive, sometimes more so than words. And the best thing is that God knows what you are “saying.”

Of course, this confidence belongs only to those who have placed their faith in Jesus. We know He is God’s love incarnate, the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, the one who has bought us back from sin and death. Because of our faith relationship with Him, we have certain forgiveness and life and salvation. We also have God’s ear.

1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

That is true even if all we can do is groan and sigh.