Matthew 26:43-46
43 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45 Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 “Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”
Have you ever stopped to think what will happen when that day comes where we must answer to God and we look back at our lives, how many missed opportunities will we see? How many times will we look back and realize that what we could or should have done was replaced with something temporary that we wanted to do for our own satisfaction? It could be anything from stopping to pray for someone, to giving something away, to responding to a plea for help…how many times do we ignore the soft and silent urge to do something good and instead go on our way to do what we prefer to do? I struggle with this. I occasionally have “thoughts” (which I really think are messages from the Holy Spirit) that I cower at fulfilling. I am trying better to not only pay more attention the the Spirit’s guidance, but also have the courage to obey it.
In this section leading up to Jesus’ arrest we see His disciples, His closest friends, struggling to stay awake and instead of fighting off the fatigue and being diligent to pray, they instead take a nap. Now, I myself have stood a guard duty of 24 hours and can say it isn’t easy, especially if you didn’t get a good night’s sleep the night before. These guys had been walking around in Jerusalem and preparing a feast for the evening’s festivities. They are tired, full, and now sitting around in the quiet still night of Gethsemane. It was an olive grove. Now, even though their prayers would not have prevented Jesus from being handed over to the officials and guards, I’m sure these guys felt pretty bad once it happened. In fact, we will see Peter act in a very unholy manner soon. But what were they thinking as this happened? What would you be thinking? “I should have stayed awake and prayed more.”
I think it is wise to try to live with as few regrets as possible. We should seize every moment we have to do what we should. We shouldn’t let our own desires come in the way of expanding the Kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven. So why do we? Let’s resolve to not allow the enemy to detain us any more in our purpose on earth.
