We Do Not Know



Romans 8:26

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 through wordless groans.

I am in a lull spiritually these days, not depressed or anything, but just a dry season. Not a crisis of faith but more of a time of waiting and thinking. I have found solace in Paul's writing of the following verse above, the great apostle admitting that he did not know what to pray for. We often don't view Paul, the writer of the magisterial Book of Romans, this way with hesitations and doubts. Questions versus answers.

It is necessary at times to pause and just be, where we recognize that is normal be perplexed and confused, and to not have all of the answers. Or even try to. To grant that it is a world of complexity and just because we are certain of some key doctrines doesn't mean that everything falls in line. For instance, when Paul writes that there is "No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus" no means no. But, it does not mean that Paul concludes that he knows it all.

Life is more an essay than a multiple choice exam. We don't know all of the right answers. God wants us to work out what he is worked in. He has given us His Guide, the Holy Spirit, to provide answers for us when we can't. And somehow, knowing that makes me OK with not knowing.   

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