We tend to want to be triumphant in all we do. We can look at a horrible situation and then blindly declare with a cheerful voice: “God is in control!”

Like the cheeriness in our voice will take away the sting of the situation.

There are times we need to recognize that the Spirit of God does indeed fill the whole world and, yes, God “is in control,” but according to Romans 8, there are times that even the Spirit is at a loss for words!

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.

 The New International Version (Ro 8:26). (2011). Zondervan.

There are times we need to understand where the Holy Spirit is mostly grieving. And groaning. (N.T. Wright, Into the Heart of Romans, p. 139)

We need to be comfortable with the thought that the Spirit groans. We don’t “sing song” our voice to try and move away the gloom.

I wrote a blog post about lament being a permanent part of the Christian life and set it to be posted the next day. Between writing the post and the post going live, actually right after I wrote the post, I opened my email and took in the news of a friend losing a son overnight.

Immediately I was walking in my newfound vocation. I stared at the screen, burst into tears, and could barely explain the email to my wife, asking her to read it instead. I lost all words.

The Spirit groaned.

This is our vocation. We carry lament as a part of who we are as believers. My friend needs me to carry this with him.

There won’t be any sing song voice as I weep for him. The Spirit gives me permission to groan and if I say anything it generally comes out something like: “It sucks and that’s all there is to it.”

This is living in my vocation as a follower of Christ.