From My Perspective - - -

Have you ever come to a situation, circumstance or experience where you just had to pause and reflexively – sigh? What if in the same context you sensed the enormity of the immediate and you groaned? To sigh means: “to let out one's breath audibly, as from sorrow, weariness, or relief; to yearn or long; pine.” On the other hand, if your response was to groan it means: “to utter a deep, mournful sound expressive of pain or grief; to suffer greatly or lamentably.” What does a “sigh” or “groan” mean and what does one hope to see accomplished? 

The Bible mentions that on one occasion Jesus paused and sighed. In Mark 7:32-35, “And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him…Be opened. And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.” In his book 3:16, Max Lucado. Writes: "When Jesus looked into the eyes of Satan's victim, the only appropriate thing to do was sigh. It was never intended to be this way, the sigh said. Your ears weren't made to be deaf; your tongue wasn't made to stumble. The imbalance of it all caused the Master to languish." He goes on to say: "And in the agony of Jesus lies our hope. Had he not sighed, we would be in a pitiful condition. Had he simply chalked it all up to the inevitable or washed his hands of the whole stinking mess, what hope would we have? But he didn't. That holy sigh assures us that God still groans for his people. He groans for the day when all sighs will cease, when what was intended to be will be."

There was also the occasion in John 11:32-35 where one can glean and sense the extent of inner groaning. A friend, Lazarus, is dead and Jesus arrives late for the funeral. Then we read: “When Jesus saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, Where have you laid him?They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept.” The key words are – “He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” The inner groaning of Jesus is obvious. 

Another glimpse of Jesus groaning is in Mark 15:34,37-39: “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice…My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God!" The groan is: “A groan is a deep, inarticulate expression, an inner sigh, which expresses internal pain, sorrow, grief, frustration…It also involves inexpressible yearning.”

Does God care about the Sighs and Groanings of His people? In Exodus 2:23-25, we read: “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue…came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…God saw the people of Israel--and God knew.” He not only knew, He also cared and would soon set in motion the Exodus of His people from the place of bondage to the place of promise. 

In Romans 8:18-27, we find that God’s people today groan before God as they wait for their deliverance from the place of tears to their final destination of eternal rejoicing. “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies…we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words…the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." The final destination is not too far off. As you sigh and groan under temporal burdens and limitations, don’t let your hope fade – we are close to our promised land. Consider these things with me!