And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? (Mk. 14:37 KJV)
Simon, sleepest thou? That was Jesus question when He found Peter deeply asleep from exhaustion when he was supposed to be praying
Jesus took his disciples to pray with Him in Gethsemane as He prepared to face the very purpose why He came to earth—to die a shameful death for sinful and unworthy sinners. After separating Himself for an hour, leaving the disciples behind, He was appalled to find them sleeping when he returned. He asked Peter “steepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour?”.
The disciples were exhausted and just could not keep their eyes awake, which is hardly different from what we also deal with today.Have you ever wanted to pray and just could not keep your eyes opened? Well, that was the plight of the disciples. Jesus later told them “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak “(Matt. 26:41 KJV). He acknowledged the weakness of the flesh, even when the spirit man is willing to go along with what the Spirit is leading us to do.
Nevertheless, the question remained. Jesus asked Simon, “sleepest thou?”. The crisis they were about to face was never going to repeat itself. There are situations in life that necessitate that we forego sleep to stay awake to watch and pray. It does not happen every day, but when it happens, we must be careful not to allow sleep to overwhelm us thereby making us susceptible to the forces of temptations. Watch and pray.
MEDITATE
Why do you think the disciples were so exhausted? What are some of the reasons why we also get too exhausted to pray today?
APPLY THE WORD
Are you facing a situation at the moment that requires you to stay awake to watch and pray? Though the flesh is weak, you must overcome its weakness through the power of the Spirit. Could you imagine the Lord coming to you and saying “ Simon or John or Patrick or Williams …sleepest thou?”
PRAY
Ask the Spirit of the Lord to strengthen you in times of trials to be able to watch and pray.
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