In Our Weakness

Mark 7:34 (NIV)
³⁴ He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!").

Mark 7:34 (MSG)
³⁴ Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, "Ephphatha!—Open up!"

Most translations say that Jesus sighed then healed the man, opening his ears to hear. The word sigh caught my attention. Why would Jesus sigh? The Greek word implies that Jesus turned His full attention on the one seeking His help and then prayed for the man, earnestly praying as He looked toward heaven. The Message translation may be closer to the intended meaning of the account.

Jesus prayed on the man’s behalf, doing what the man was unable to do. The Holy Spirit does the same thing for us today. God gives His Spirit within each one of us that we would have full access to His power and grace.

Romans 8:26 (NIV)
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 with groans that words cannot express.

Romans 8:26 (MSG)
²⁶ Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.

God is with us
He has done for us what we could not do
How marvelous it is that He is not through