Posts Tagged ‘asleep’

I had the opportunity to speak last week at church, and touched on a very familiar and heart-wrenching passage of Scripture.  I was looking at the final night Jesus spent with His disciples.  Sure, there were many amazing things that happened – Jesus had an incredible time sharing the Passover with the ones He loved.

But what really amazed me is that when Jesus was at one of the lowest points in His life…  when He was enduring a time of excruciating torment… when He needed His disciples most… they fell asleep.  Does that do something in you?  Does it break your heart that when God in a human body needed us (His “faithful” disciples) that we totally let Him down?  Jesus was vexed; His soul was “exceeding sorrowful even unto death” and they couldn’t find the strength to stay awake.

When Jesus finds them sleeping, after pouring His heart out to the Father, He wakes them up.  I find His words quite intriguing:  “What, could you not watch with me one hour?”  Then I think to myself… ouch!  How many of us pray for over an hour on a regular basis?  How many of us pray without falling asleep?  Then we wonder why we are spiritually weak.  Then we wonder why we are less fruitful than we desire to be.  We need to heed the words of Christ, understanding that though our spirits are willing, our flesh is incredibly weak.

We need to wake up!