Praying When Words Fail

Understanding Prayer When Words Fail

Prayer is a fundamental aspect of Christian devotion, described as "converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him" ^[2]. However, there are moments when words fail, and the act of praying becomes a struggle. The Bible acknowledges this struggle, with Psalm 69:3 expressing the psalmist's desperation: "I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God" ^[1].

In such instances, the Christian tradition offers various perspectives on how to pray when words are insufficient. According to John Calvin, even when our minds are unable to articulate a prayer, our spirit can still pray through groanings or unutterable sighs ^[6]. This is echoed in Romans 8:26, where the one tradition writes about the Spirit interceding for believers with "groanings that cannot be expressed in words" ^[11].

The early Church Fathers also addressed this issue. Augustine, in his homilies on the Gospels, emphasizes the importance of persisting in prayer despite the challenges ^[5]. one tradition notes that prayer is not just about the words we use but about the attitude of the heart.

In Jewish tradition, the Babylonian Talmud discusses the issue of missed prayers and how one can compensate for them. Rabbi Yitzḥak, citing Rabbi Yoḥanan, suggests that if one fails to pray due to error, they can make up for the missed prayer by reciting the next prayer twice ^{[7, 8, 9]}.

The Reformed tradition, as represented by Calvin, highlights the role of faith in prayer, even when words fail. Calvin argues that true prayer is founded on faith and confidence in God's willingness to hear ^{[3, 4]}. He also notes that the vehemence of emotions can lead to spontaneous expressions of prayer, as seen in the case of Hannah (1 Sam. 1:13) ^[6].

The Puritan tradition, as seen in Matthew Henry's commentary on Psalms, also acknowledges the struggle of praying when words fail. Henry interprets the psalmist's longing for help from heaven as a genuine expression of faith, even in the midst of desperation ^[10].

Sources

Psalms “I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God. -- Psalms 69:3”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal. It is a "beseeching the Lord" (Ex. 32:11); "pouring out the soul before the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:15); "praying and crying to heaven" (2 Chr. 32:20); "seeking unto God and making supplication" (Job 8:5); "drawing near to God" (Ps. 73:28); "bowing the knees" (Eph. 3:14). Prayer presupposes a belief in the personality of God, his ability and willingness to hold inter”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 75: what in mercy he kindly denies to others. Of this we have a proof in the children of Israel, for whom it had been better not to have been heard by the Lord, than to swallow his indignation with their flesh ( Num. 11:18 , 33 ). 52. But if our sense is not able till after long expectation to perceive what the result of prayer is, or experience any benefit from it, still our faith will assure us of that which cannot be perceived by sense—viz. that we have obtained what was fit for us, the Lord having so often and so surely engaged to ”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 75: what we ask, a confidence which the Lord commands, and all the saints teach by their example, we must therefore hold fast with both hands, if we would pray to any advantage. The only prayer acceptable to God is that which springs (if I may so express it) from this presumption of faith, and is founded on the full assurance of hope. He might have been contented to use the simple name of faith, but he adds not only confidence, but liberty or boldness, that by this mark he might distinguish us from unbelievers, who indeed like us pray ”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, LUKE XVIII. I, (part 1): "THEY OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY, AND NOT TO FAINT," ETC. AND ON THE TWO WHO WENT UP INTO THE TEMPLE TO PRAY: AND OF THE LITTLE CHILDREN WHO WERE PRESENTED UNTO CHRIST. 1. THE lesson of the Holy Gospel builds us up unto the duty of praying and believing, and of not putting our trust in ourselves, but in the Lord. What greater encouragement to prayer than the parable which is proposed to us of the unjust judge ? For an unjust judge, who feared not God, nor regarded man, yet gave ear to a widow who ”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 75: feeling is insufficient for incitement, or the vehemence of the incitement carries the utterance of the tongue along with it. For although the best prayers are sometimes without utterance, yet when the feeling of the mind is overpowering, the tongue spontaneously breaks forth into utterance, and our other members into gesture. Hence that dubious muttering of Hannah ( 1 Sam. 1:13 ), something similar to which is experienced by all the saints when concise and abrupt expressions escape from them. The bodily gestures usually observed i”
Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 128b.51:20: To resolve this difficulty, Rabbi Yitzḥak said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: With what are we dealing here in this baraita ? We are dealing with a case where one intentionally failed to recite the prayer. Only then he has no remedy. However, one who failed to pray due to error can compensate for the missed prayer by reciting the next prayer twice.”
Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 128a.51:20: To resolve this difficulty, Rabbi Yitzḥak said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: With what are we dealing here in this baraita ? We are dealing with a case where one intentionally failed to recite the prayer. Only then he has no remedy. However, one who failed to pray due to error can compensate for the missed prayer by reciting the next prayer twice.”
Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 26a.20: To resolve this difficulty, Rabbi Yitzḥak said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: With what are we dealing here in this baraita ? We are dealing with a case where one intentionally failed to recite the prayer. Only then he has no remedy. However, one who failed to pray due to error can compensate for the missed prayer by reciting the next prayer twice.”
Psalms (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Psalms 119:81: Here we have the psalmist, I. Longing for help from heaven: My soul faints; my eyes fail. He longs for the salvation of the Lord and for his word, that is, salvation according to the word. He is not thus eager for the creatures of fancy, but for the objects of faith, salvation from the present calamities under which he was groaning and the doubts and fears which he was oppressed with. It may be understood of the coming of the Messiah, and so he speaks in the name of the Old Testament church; the souls of the faithful even fainted to see that salvation of which t”
Romans (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Romans 8:26: 8:26 groanings that cannot be expressed in words: This might refer to speech that does not take the form of human language, such as when believers, uncertain of what to pray, utter meaningless sounds in prayer. The groanings in question are the Spirit’s, not ours. When we do not know how to pray, the Spirit is interceding for us before God.”

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