4 - A little extra sleep
Mark 14:
32 Then they came to a place called Gethsemane. He said to his disciples,
"Stay here while I pray."
33 He took Peter, James, and John with him and began to feel distressed and anguished.
34 He said to them,
"My anguish is so great that I feel as if I'm dying. Wait here, and stay awake."
35 After walking a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible he might not have to suffer what was ahead of him.
36 He said,
"Abba! Father! You can do anything. Take this cup of suffering away from me. But let your will be done rather than mine."
37 He went back and found them asleep. He said to Peter,
"Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn't you stay awake for one hour?
38 Stay awake, and pray that you won't be tempted. You want to do what's right, but you're weak."
(God's Word)
While at dinner, Peter had expressed his self confidence and boasted that he would never give in to the temptation to abandon Jesus, even though Jesus had warned them that the temptation would overwhelm them all.
Now they are in the garden of Gethsemane, a place where Jesus liked to go to pray.
Jesus asked His followers to stay close by. Then He took Peter, James and John and went further into the garden and began to face in prayer, the terrible day that was before Him. He allowed His distress and anguish to be expressed in His prayer.
Sometimes we feel that we should not express negative emotions when we pray, but since Jesus did so here, that means it's all right to tell our heavenly Father when life overwhelms us.
We need to note that Jesus ended His prayer by committing Himself to the will of God, even though the will of God that coming day was the most difficult any person has ever had to face.
However, while Jesus was resting His full confidence in His Father, Peter, whose other name was Simon, was sleeping.
This kind of sleep represents the third stage of backsliding, that is, going to sleep on the inside so I don't have to see what's happening on the outside.
Sometimes we do this kind of sleeping by literally sleeping too much. But usually this kind of sleeping is done when we are awake. We may blank out the parts of our life we are uncomfortable with and don't know how to fix. Some of us feel so terrible that we put substances into our body to help us forget or to help us feel good.
This is dangerous, not only to our physical health, but these chemicals change our personality and those who love us don't like who we become when under the influence of these substances. In this way all our meaningful relationships become difficult.
Others of us, in a effort to blank out the negatives in our life, get into illicit sex which is outside the bounds that God can bless. That can destroy parts of our inner person on a very deep level.
To find our way back from this kind of destruction, we need to seek the Lord very diligently and purposefully not only to heal our heart but also to change our lifestyle so that we can receive the blessing of God.
Proverbs 24:
33 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest -
34 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
(New Living Translation)
Prayer:
Father in heaven, today I want to wake up out of any kind of sleep that causes me to turn away from You into backsliding. Please rescue me from the destruction which comes from running away from the uncomfortable things in life through putting myself to sleep.
I look to You, Lord to help me. I put my trust in You and I ask that You bring the people into my life who can help me to come out of sleep into vibrant and fulfilling life,
in Jesus' name,
Amen. |
