Luke 22 --“Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.” (v. 46) -- the echoes of these ancient words reverberated through the corridors of my soul. I was convicted – guilty as charged.
Just hours before he would carry all of humanity’s sins on his shoulders and in his own body, Jesus spoke these words to his friends, disciples, the men who would be responsible for his world-wide mission. He invited them to enter into and share his agony through intercessory prayer. But, they were exhausted with grief and the self-absorbed pursuit of moving up the leadership ladder. How could they sleep while their Master suffered? What a shame! Well, over 2000 years later, he speaks these same words to me.
I am in that garden, sleeping. My Savior invites me to be with him and to pray with him, but I am distracted by gadgets, schedules and my agenda. I am exhausted with grief and hopelessness, self-absorbed pursuits, and the lack of curiosity. My Savior has invited me into his pain. Yet, I sleep. My Savior has invited me to agonize with him over murder, abortion, rape, slavery, genocide, infanticide, abusive relationships, failing marriages, oil spills and hurricanes, and earthquakes. Yet, I sleep. He comes to me and finds me sleeping.
“Why are you sleeping?” he asks me. “Huh? I’m busted. I’m embarrassed. I’m not gonna stunt, pose or try and manage an image. I offer no words of excuse or rationalization. I was sleeping – plain and simple.
Jesus, I’m sorry.” I wipe the sleep from my eyes and the drool from my mouth, only to recognize that while I was sleeping, he was praying. He has been praying and agonizing over the pain, the brokenness, the sins, the fear, and the anxiety in our world, but I was sleeping. My Savior kneels alone on his praying ground, deeply troubled. Yet, I sleep.
Because I am sleeping, I am not praying. And, because I am not praying, I am more prone to fail. I am in the garden, sleeping, and I am prone to give into all kinds of temptations: irrational fear, unnecessary anxiety, blatant satanic lies that my sins can outrun God’s grace, the delusional belief that I know better than God and can control my own life, and feeding my flesh is more important than feeding my spirit. No more! Not today! It’s time for me to:
- Get up!
- Arise!
- Wake up! Pray!
- Intercede!
- Talk to God! and
- Be devoted to prayer!
Together let’s enter into this exhausting, powerful, and intimate spiritual habit with my Savior. He invites us to be alone with him and to be devoted to talking to him daily. Let’s awake and pray so we won’t fail him and others we love.
[By Pastor Marvin Williams ]
Be Blessed!
Dawn
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