"The He said to them, 'My soul is swallowed up in sorrow -- to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with Me.' Going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.'As I look at these verses, I see two very specific angles that one can take:
Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, 'So, couldn't you stay awake with Me one hour? Stay awake and pray, so that you won't enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'"
- Matthew 26:40,41
First, from Jesus. If I truly desire to seek and model my life and my walk after Jesus, I have to be ok with the will of the Father. Jesus, as he was walking this earth, knew through that was end was near. He knew this through the Spirit and by the prophets. It is clear that this was a heavy burden for Him to carry and that He wasn't specifically excited to experience this crucifixion that was coming. However, he acknowledged that if it was the Father's will that He would comply joyfully. Am I consistently able to do that?
Second, from the disciples. Jesus was going through some rough times. He asked the disciples to stay with Him; in the context of this scripture we learn that it is so the prophecy is fulfilled of "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." So there they were, the sheep of the flock, with the shepherd. Like sheep, they became distracted, fell asleep, mentally wandered from focusing on the shepherd, etc. It is easy for us to become guilty of this as well. When we desire to sit down and focus on the will of the Father and to glorify Him, we get distracted by the daily grind, by shiny things, by tiredness,.... by sin. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." In our lack of perfectness, it is impossible for us to maintain perfect focus on the Father like Jesus did, who knew? So what does this mean...? I encourage that it would humble you, but that we would find comfort in knowing that our Shepherd, Jesus, continues to intercede on our behalf and that we have been given instruction through the Word, and power through the Spirit that we might walk in the will of the Father.
So, we find ourselves in our own times of distress, unhappiness, difficulties, turmoil... do we pray and stay awake so that we won't enter into temptation? Do we accept the perfect will of the Father?
