As Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, he returned to the disciples three times and found them sleeping (Matthew 26:40-44; Mark 14:37-41; Luke 22:45). The first and second times, Jesus returned to them hoping the fruit of answered prayer would become evident in them. He prayed for his Father to remove the cup of depression from him (see, “Bearing Away Our Sins“), that is, the cup of deadly silence in their fellowship. Twice, he came looking for that second hand encouragement, that he might be strengthened. When Jesus prays, the Scriptures say he is always answered (John 11:41-42). The Father waited for the third session of prayer, giving the three disciples every opportunity to be used of God and bring strength and encouragement to Jesus in answer to his prayer, but they failed, as I so often do. They all testified of their own strength and loyalty to Christ. They could not believe that they would desert him. They were filled with the thoughts of glory issuing from their own hearts, but failed to stand with Jesus in the hour of prayer (see: “Watch and Pray”). They failed to listen for God to speak to them. I am desensitized by dwelling at the border of righteousness or the hedge that God has placed around me, and I often fail to listen for that “still small Voice” of God within. Therefore, just as Daniel waited twenty-one days for his answer, because of a spiritual battle (Daniel 10:2-3, 7-14), so Jesus waited until his third session of prayer, before his Father answered him with the comfort and strength of an angelic visit.
When Jesus entered the garden, he told the disciples to remain where they were, while he went to pray, and he went about a “stones cast” and fell down and prayed (Matthew 26:36; Luke 22:39-41). I can throw a stone from the porch of my home to the end of my yard, approximately one hundred feet. If someone was speaking in a normal tone of voice, I could not understand what he was saying that far away, but Jesus took with him, Peter, James and John (Matthew 26:37; Mark 14:33) and told them:
“…tarry ye here and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38; cp. Mark 14:34).
The same word used for “tarry” is used in John 15:4-7 for “abide.” My point is that, while the other disciples could be described as being across the yard, these three were only across the room. They could be considered as being “with” Jesus (Matthew 26:38). They were able to hear every word that Jesus spoke with his Father.
Jesus came to Peter, James and John three times only to find them sleeping. Sleep can be a type of expression of death (John 11:11-14), or it can be a type of expression of our rest in Christ during times of trouble (Psalms 127:1-5). Although the apostles’ sleep is the natural, every night kind of sleep, I believe it is used here also to express a lack of alertness in their spirits. It is said that they slept, because “their eyes were heavy” (Matthew 26:43) and because of “sorrow” (Luke 22:45).
…for their eyes were heavy. (Matthew 26:43 KJV)
This was a very difficult evening for the disciples. In recent days, Jesus triumphed over his enemies, and he entered Jerusalem amid the shouts of Hosanna to the Son of David, perhaps hundreds of thousands of pilgrims hailing him as Messiah. Nevertheless, Jesus told his disciples that in this very night one of them would betray him, and all would desert him. Even Peter would deny knowing him three times before dawn. At the evening meal Jesus spoke of his blood and later of leaving them and going to a place where they could not follow at that time (John 13:36). Here in Gethsemane, Jesus spoke of a deep sorrow, a depression that was bringing him to death’s door (see: “The Gethsemane“). The three listened to him crying out to his Father about a cup and pleading that it would be taken away. They were confused. They thought all was going really well, but Jesus was certainly on a different wavelength than they were. What is going on? Suddenly life seemed too much. What seemed too good for words was now vanishing away in the presence of this sorrow and confusion. Hoping that tomorrow would bring better things, they gave in to the weight of slumber and drifted off to escape the burden and sorrow of being awake and alert with Jesus.
At times, I allow myself the dubious luxury of spiritual sleep. I don’t mean to imply that this is acceptable behavior, but I am confessing that I do this more often than I would like to admit. If I do not consciously have Jesus before me, and if I am not purposefully abiding in fellowship with him, I leave myself open to this sleep. The result is that I end up denying Jesus. I deny him access to my conscious life and choose, instead, to enjoy the world or the pleasures of the flesh for a season. How often I stroke my hurt feelings and end up being bitter toward a friend, until I bring it all before the Lord once more. More often than not, I must especially be careful after a great victory in Christ or after a wonderful season of intimate fellowship with him. I seem to be ready to let my spiritual guard down not willing to admit vulnerability (Luke 22:24, 33), and my trust seems to switch to my flesh instead of resting in Christ. I drift off into a spiritual slumber and awake too late, as did Samson (Judges 16:20), finding I can no longer do what I had been able to do in Christ, just a short while ago.
I believe that Elijah felt this way too (1Kings 19:4-5). After great victories were won for the Lord (1Kings 18:20-45), Elijah became discouraged, when he was not received with honor by the people of Israel. The hand of the Lord was indeed upon him (1Kings 18:46), but when Jezebel threatened his life (1Kings 19:2), Elijah fled. His excuse was that, though he was faithful and zealous for the Lord, no one believed. Everyone was against both him and God (1Kings 19:10).
God revealed to Elijah that he is not in the great and powerful winds that move upon the earth (1Kings 19:11). I have seen a picture of a strand of straw that was driven with such force that it pierced the trunk of a tree, so that it came out the other side. There the blade of straw rested unbroken, going into one side of the tree and coming out the other. What force! What power! Although the Spirit of God is compared with the wind (John 3:8), God was not in the powerful wind. The Lord showed Elijah that neither was God in an earthquake. An earthquake is able to move vast amounts of earth at one time, destroying cities and all the works of men within its center. Although faith the size of a grain of mustard seed could move a mountain and cast it into the sea, something only an earthquake in nature could do, God was not in the powerful earthquake. Finally, the Lord showed Elijah that he was not in the fire either. Fire will destroy all that dishonors God (Matthew 3:12), including that which is in his own people (1Corinthians 3:13-15), and although Jesus said he had come to send such a fire of judgment upon the earth (Luke 12:49), God was not in the purifying fire. Where is God? If God is not in all the powerful things I can see and know, where is he? God is in that “still small Voice” (1Kings 19:12-13) within me and you.
What am I saying? I am saying that I am not any more spiritual than the sleeping disciples. I am just as vulnerable as the sleeping prophet (1Kings 19:4-5), and just as feeble as the erring, sleeping judge (Judges 16:20). I often get discouraged. Sleep comes easy, when I am discouraged, both natural sleep and spiritual sleep. The television set is a worldly baby-sitter and hums a very subtle spiritual lullaby. I can sit in front of the TV set for hours and never realize where the time has gone or recognize the waste until it is time for bed. Sometimes I look at my life and wonder about its value. I must not continue in this exercise for long, because the inevitable result is discouragement.
…and after the fire a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:12 KJV)
The Lord is in that still small Voice (1Kings 19:12-13). The winds of war (Luke 21:9), and the great movements that destroy one nation and raise up another (Luke 21:10-11), and the fires of judgment that sweep across our globe from one generation to another, all destroy and make me afraid. Yet, that “still small Voice” causes me to desire to draw near. A whisper inclines my ear. High winds, earth shaking thunder, and lightning bolts which brighten the dark storm all cause me to desire to run and seek shelter and safety in a dry corner. It is not the great and powerful works of God that invite me to draw near to him. It is the whisper of God that comes from within me that causes me to desire to make everything else quiet, while I take time out for fellowship and worship. I get tired in the constant battle and labor. Exercising the zeal that burns within also burns me out in the Lord, but I am refreshed in the quiet times I spend away from all else. He revives me when I take time to enjoy him alone.
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