Matt Richards
Luke 22:44 And when He got up from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from grief, And He said to them, Why do you sleep? Get up and pray that you may not enter [at all] into temptation.
[This is a devotional I wrote a few years ago which spoke to me afresh today.]
(It's easy in this time of crisis of lockdown to go to sleep and hope it all goes away.)
Jesus was at His point of need and the disciples were sleeping. The bible says they were sleeping from grief. The Message says 'drugged' with grief.
The truth is, grief is dangerous and exhausting. Your soul will be tired and will want to pull the duvet over your head and go to sleep until it goes away. Don't do it.
Don't be drugged to sleep by sorrow, regret, sadness, for something, or someone lost. Don't look back.
Jesus said to the disciples, 'What business have you sleeping, get up and pray so you wont give in to temptation.'
Grief is dangerous. It can lull you to sleep, stop you praying, and you then can fall into sin.
Jesus seems really hard here telling his disciples to get up and pray, as they were sad. A sympathetic or even empathetic word may just lull you back to sleep. You don't need it, I don't need it, I need an alarm clock.
Maybe at your darkness, most sad and challenging time you need to hear, "Get up and pray".
As a pastor seeing people with problems, I have learnt 90% of people's issues would go away if they spent time with God on a daily basis.
Don't want to fall into temptation, sin going round in circles, being defeated? Get up and pray.
Prayer:
Father, I have been distracted by grief. I have wanted to go back to sleep forgive me. Wake me up each morning that I might pray and not fall into temptation in Jesus' Name Amen.
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