Laughing in Prayer

When I was at Philadelphia College of Bible, I taught a 4th grade Sunday School class for boys in a lcoal church. They were fun and full of life. One morning I asked one of them to pray. And as he was praying, he started coughing. Then I heard him say, with all the sincerity of childhood, "Time Out, Lord". I looked up to see what was going on. His eyes were still closed, his hands folded, his head bowed - after all that's the only acceptable posture in prayer :) - He finally stopped coughing and started right back with his prayer.

It comes as no surprise to those who know me, but I was laughing at what he said. I had never heard anyone call a time out while praying. I thought it funny then, I still do...

Fast forward to Thursday morning. Sara and I are having our devotions. We had read a chapter in Psalms and I began praying. And I was just getting tongue tied. I was asking for healing for people who weren't even sick while meaning those who were. I was praying for our missionaries who weren't missionaries. And I couldn't help it. I started laughing. Sara was even worse, she was laughing out loud. And I remembered the "Time Out". We laughed about it and then went back to praying.

There's a part of my Independent Fundamental Baptist background that made me feel guilty for taking lightly the presence of God. But I was not going lightly into God's throne room. I know why it happened. I was very tired. Wednesdays are long days and I had come back from a hospital visit after 11:00 PM. Sara and I get up early to go to work. My coffee hadn't kicked in. And I just got confused. And we laughed.

As I was thinking about it, I was brought back to Romans 8:26 -

In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.

The Lord knew who I meant when I got the name wrong about who Becky was married to. He knew who our missionaries were in Chad and Senegal. He wasn't confused. The blessed Holy Spirit simply translated my mistaken entreaties into intercession for all the right people.

I am so thankful that our heavenly Father remembers that we were created from dust and as such have moments of disconnect between our hearts and our mouths. And He steps in. Maybe He even chuckles when we have to say, "Well, you know what I mean."