When Jesus spent the night in Gethsemane, bearing upon Himself the sins of the world, He asked only one thing of His disciples: that they stay awake. He woke them twice, and found them asleep. As He pled for their support, He acknowledge that “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)
Isn’t that the way it is with all of us? As we struggle with our daily trials, we truly long to be more Christlike. We strive to make the changes that are needed for us to be closer to Him. We try to repent and improve. And yet, though we might earnestly desire it, we are not always successful. Perhaps we have a habit engrained in us that we just can’t shake. Maybe family home evening or family prayer is a struggle that seems too wear us out. Or we want to wake up early to take more time for personal scripture study, but just can’t seem to get up when the alarm goes off in the early morning hours.
Although the disciples faltered, Christ tells us how to ultimately overcome our weakness. “Watch and pray,” He teaches, “that ye enter not into temptation.” As we struggle with our daily battles, our physical tendencies, our human characteristics, we must make sure that we lean upon Him. We need to watch out for these habits and make a conscious decision to overcome them – that is, ‘watch’ for them. Then, as we watch for times that we know we will be weak, we must pray – often. We must not only ask for help in our morning and evening prayers, but also as we encounter these trials. We may not feel inclined to pray, which only means we need to pray all the more.
He may swoop in and free us from our struggles with a miracle, but most of the time, He does not. But as we rely on Him, and ask for help, He gives us the strength to endure. We remember the reason we are trying to change or overcome this problem.
Perhaps, in the day He needs us, we will have managed to defeat the natural man within us and stay awake through the night.
Related Articles:
Gospel Doctrine: Men Ought Always to Pray
Parables in the Book of Mormon