My daughter is quite the talker for a 7-month old. She uses an array of different sounds when she babbles, so, it actually sounds like she’s creating sentences and phrases. It sounds so much like a language that when she starts talking, my 3-year old will ask me, “What’s she saying mom?” Then I do my best to translate what I feel like she's saying or expressing.
I like to think I know what she’s saying, how she feels, and what she needs. Even though she doesn’t speak my language yet, I can speak hers. It’s pretty incredible, actually, how the bond between a mother and her child can withstand what some would call a "language barrier". When, in fact, there really isn’t any barrier at all.
That‘s how it is to speak to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes when I come before my Father God, I don’t have the words to express what my heart is saying. So, instead of fighting through trying to find the right words to say, I’ll sigh or I’ll groan. And, Holy Spirit knows exactly what I’m trying to say.
King David expresses this so beautifully in Psalm 139. He says, “Lord, you have seen what is in my heart. You know all about me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know what I'm thinking even though you are far away. You know when I go out to work and when I come back home. You know exactly how I live. Lord, even before I speak a word, you know all about it. You are all around me. You are behind me and in front of me. You hold me in your power. I'm amazed at how well you know me. It's more than I can understand.” (Psalm 139:1-6)
The Holy Spirit knows me so deeply that I don’t need an earthly language to express my needs. I can be like a child before my God and babble in His presence and He will understand me fully, even when I don’t fully understand myself. It’s a relationship unlike any other. Mother to child. The Creator to the created.
This intimacy knowing each other heart-to-heart is a relationship that Father God longs to have with me, His child. It’s necessary to let myself be vulnerable before God in a way of letting my heart express what my mind can‘t comprehend—to call out to God like babies call out for their mothers. Even Christ said that those who come before God like a child will hold the greatest place in Heaven.
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'" (Matthew 18:1-4)
And, what does it mean to be the "greatest in the kingdom of heaven"? It means to be close to God's heart.
As my daughter calls out for me, and speaks to me in her native tongue, her spirit tongue, my heart connects with hers. She calls, and I answer. I wrap her in my arms and hold her close to the beating of my heart where she can find rest, comfort, and peace. And, that's how I find the greatest place with my Abba, Daddy, God. I call out to Him, like a child, in my spirit tongue and He rushes in and gathers me close to Him like a mother holds on to her child.
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