“‘Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ‘Get up and pray, so that you won’t fall into temptation.’” (v. 46)

Permit a brief encouragement (and a corresponding challenge) for your worn out, stressed out, tired out days:

Don’t take the wrong nap.

You have to pray when you are there, in the exhausted crisis. Yes, you should rest, as well—but we make some of our worst decisions when we are tired. We’ll permit darkened thoughts, we’ll listen to temptation, and we’ll even stray into sin—all because we let tiredness lower our defenses.

Admittedly, we’ve known nothing like that Passover night in the garden, but we can still hear Jesus’ words—we can still see Jesus’ napping disciples—and we can understand our own crisis nights through them. We ought to be sensitive to the moment. We ought to account for our spiritual fitness when we feel weak. And we ought to pray, to rebuke the tempter and avoid temptation, lest we wander into worn-out waywardness.

Don’t take the wrong nap. Don’t miss the moment of prayer. Instead, PRAY, and remain alert until rest is right.

— Tyler