Sleep Walking

And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Luke 22:39-46

Immediately preceding the Lord’s arrest and crucifixion, He led his disciples into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.  

This wouldn’t have been the first time Jesus led the men to this place.  The gospels say that praying here was customary for Jesus.  

The disciples followed him there in those hours, and Jesus gave them instructions to watch and pray lest they fall into temptation.  

The men didn’t have a problem with following Jesus, but they didn’t seem capable of staying awake to pray.  

Jesus returned more than once to find them sleeping.  They had an excuse.  Scripture says they slept from sorrow, but that didn’t change the fact that they were not doing what Jesus had asked of them.

The instructions he gave were for their own good.  He wanted them to be careful not to fall into temptation.  He didn’t want the enemy to trip them up or cause them to stumble.

Still the disciples slept.  

As I read this, I thought of times when we as believers sleep walk after the Lord.   

Maybe we become apathetic or lazy in our walks with Him.  We follow Him to our normal places of devotions and prayer.  We follow him in our ministries or relationships, but we aren’t truly listening.  We aren't really serving Him with a whole heart..  

We are just sleep walking; going through the motions so to speak.

That night the Lord’s words to the disciples were “Why are you sleeping?  Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Luke 22:46).

The Lord has similar words for us.  Romans 13:11 says:  "And this do, knowing the time; that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”

The time is short.  May we be found redeeming the time, giving all that we have to our Savior and God.