Watch! – Part 2

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26: 40, 41, NIV.

Dear God, We hear Your warning. We want to obey; but our flesh is weak. Please strengthen us as we come before You, in prayer to study Your Word. In the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Today as we continue with our study on watchfulness, we come to a well known passage of Scripture. Many times we remember it more for the words of the Master to Peter, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” because we can identify with that statement. Today we want to take a closer look at the incident, and listen for the voice of the Spirit as He shows us wonder-full things out of the Word of God. Perhaps today, we can see a little clearer, how important prayer is in our lives, if we are to be victorious Christians!

This was the second time that Jesus had requested the support of His disciples in prayer (38, 41). Prior to asking for prayer, He had foretold the imminence of the hour of temptation, for all of them (31), especially for Peter (34). But because “the flesh [was] weak” they had fallen asleep. I chose this translation of the Bible, precisely because of their choice of the word, “fall” to explain the way we enter temptation. We “fall into temptation” when we do not watch where we are going, and we get so close to evil, that the devil can trip us. A fall causes pain, and oftentimes damage. Even when we escape bodily harm, we can suffer trauma. Or, our ego can also be affected, causing embarrassment. One of the things that a lack of prayer will do to us, is to make us vulnerable.

I imagine that Jesus was saying to Peter, “Peter, I know that as far as you are concerned, you have no intentions of denying me, but you will deny me anyhow, because you have not strengthened your flesh with prayer.” True, Jesus felt His own humanity wavering, and asked them to intercede for Him to have the strength, to pass the test; but I believe that He was more so asking them to pray for themselves. He knew that even though He had been with them for three and a half years; and that on more than one occasion He had foretold His death and suffering; they had “not gotten it!”

Now Peter must go and meet temptation, without the necessary strength. He had not watched in prayer. Oftentimes, it is on our knees that God reveals our weaknesses to us. How often have I knelt and wept in God’s presence because wrongs that I was not even aware of, were shown to me. Prayer can become the eye of the soul, helping us to discern things, that otherwise, we may never see. The first temptation he fell upon was following the Savior afar off. A lack of prayer can keep you away from the Savior Then he sought warmth in strange fire. A lack of prayer can make you seek comfort in the wrong places. The Adversary was about to trip him. He had set him up for the fall.

Tomorrow we will continue this conversation.