Speechless (8.9.15) 4

- a. What God would have us learn is well articulated by Douglas Coupland in the postscript of his book entitled 'Life After God.' The book is about a generation that has been brought up in what was touted as total freedom from God. I would not read this quote for 15 years after the event I just shared. However when I read it the memory of this event came flooding back. Coupland wrote: "here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God - that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love."
- b. The Holy Spirit interceded for me with sighs too deep for words and enabled me to learn that I need, above all else, God. A God that is at our beckon call and functions as a cosmic sugar daddy, is not a God worth worshiping or depending on. However, a God who intercedes for us when we have been left speechless and will never abandon us in the midst of our suffering is one whom we can depend on. That is what the Lord wants us to learn through those times when the wind is knocked out of us, dependence on Him. That's what God desires for our growth and His glory. When I was talking to Mark about this verse and its application he said that it reminds us that we are not in charge! Sometimes it takes a traumatic event that leaves us speechless to help us realize that. Corrie Ten Boom was a Holocaust survivor who, after the war, preached forgiveness through Jesus Christ to some of the very German guards that tortured her and killed her family. She very insightfully said that "You will never know that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have!"
- What glorifies God and helps us to grow in His likeness is not pretending that we have it all together. It does not impress God when we pretend that we always know what to say. Self righteous superficial acts and flowery prayers do not gain us favor with God. Instead, the Psalmist tells us the sacrifice acceptable to God: "a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."
- a. So brothers and sisters in Christ, let's not shy away from admitting when we are left speechless. Instead we should open ourselves up for the Holy Spirit to intercede for us with sighs too deep for words. In those speechless moments, in those sighs, let us listen for God's guidance, look for His presence, so that we may learn to be more dependent on Him. As Amy Grant wrote in her song entitled 'Better than a Hallelujah:'
- b. God loves a lulluby In a mother's tears in the dead of night, Better than a Hallelujah sometimes, God loves the drunkard's cry, The soldier's plea not to let him die, Better than a Hallelujah sometimes, The woman holding on for life, The dying man giving up the fight, Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes, The tears of shame for what's been done, The silence when the words won't come Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes, Wepour out our miseries God just hears a melody, Beautiful the mess we are, The honest cries of breaking hearts, Are better than a Hallelujah
- Prayer: When we are left speechless, Lord, help us to listen, look, and learn from the Holy Spirits sighs that are too deep for words!
- Benediction: Let us go forth a people who do not have it all together. A people who learn to be dependent on the Holy Spirit to intercede for us when we are left speechless!