The rugby ball
The Spirit Himself makes intercession for us (Romans 8:26).
Kingston upon Hull, where I was born, was one of the most heavily bombed cities in the UK during the Second World War. When I was growing up, there were bombsites everywhere. I loved playing rugby. A friend of mine had a rugby ball and I needed one to practice my skills. So we agreed a price and I started to save up to buy the ball from him. I remember counting out my coins every Friday evening when I got my pocket money. We also agreed I could borrow the ball whilst I saved for it. One day I was practicing my goal kicking on the bombsite behind our home. I used to pretend the wall of a repaired bomb-damaged house was the goal posts. The practice was going well until I miscued a kick. It should have gone gloriously high through the posts at Wembley Stadium where, in my imagination, I was kicking the winning points as captain of Hull Rugby Football Club and leading my team to win the Rugby League Challenge Cup. Instead it went fast and low, straight through a neighbour’s front room window. Thankfully in those days front rooms were only used as funeral parlours, so no one was injured by the shower of glass. I knew immediately what to do. I ran! And I ran straight into another neighbour. He had seen everything and took me to the house where the damage was done and then to my mum to explain what had happened. Needless to say, my savings paid for the new window, my ambition of owning my own rugby ball was put on hold, and I never got to play at Wembley!!
But I have never forgotten the kindly neighbour who I ran into. I can still remember the gentle way he calmed me down, stood alongside me and spoke for me to the neighbour, and more importantly, to my mum! When I think of that childhood experience, it reminds me of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 we read of the fruit of the Holy Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” We tend to concentrate on these attributes being manifested in us. But they also describe the character of the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, Helper, and Intercessor. The Holy Spirit is loving, joyful, peaceful, long-suffering and kindly, just like the Saviour. Paul writes in Romans 8, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (vv. 26-27). Then he adds in verses 34-35, “It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
We face much bigger problems than broken windows. And I was running away when my neighbour helped me. But we can freely and confidently come into the presence of God, knowing the Holy Spirit can perfectly express our needs, even those we cannot express ourselves. He does this as the One who is with us and in us in our pathway in this world and all the experiences we pass through, including the mistakes we make. And He does this in fellowship with our Saviour in heaven, who lives to make intercession for us. The relationship we have with the Spirit of God and the Son of God assures us of our relationship with God the Father: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (v. 16). Never let us run away from God, but always towards Him. We shall find Him waiting.
