Watch With Me
There was a lot of watching going on this summer.
"Stay here and watch with Me."
Matthew 26:38
We watch for Jesus to show up to answer our prayers, to comfort our sorrow, to reveal our purpose, but this verse says..."Watch with Me".
So, in the middle of the unanswered prayers, in the pain that comes from sorrow, and the frustration that can occur when we are wondering why are we here on earth, who are we with?
Just the other day following a hurtful phone call, I immediately dialed up my husband. I tried twice getting no answer. Then I remembered who was with me and cried out to him in my despair.
Oswald Chambers poses a question we often hear: "How can we possible watch with Someone who is so incomprehensible?" He goes on to say, "How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we don't even know why He is suffering! We don't know how to watch with Him-we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us.
The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they all forsook Him and fled'(Mt.26:56).
I'll be honest I did my share of grumbling and thinking about fleeing this week. Suffering can bring you down when you try to face it in your own strength. In the sermon last Sunday our pastor said, "You've heard it said, 'God never gives you more than you can handle,' well that's a lie. Life is a lot more than we are expected to handle in our own strength. We are created to turn to God."
It wasn't until after Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension that the disciples learned how to watch with Jesus. It took the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We have that same Holy Spirit living in us as believers. Yup, Jesus is with us and we can watch with Him in all of life's encounters.
We can watch with Him and learn from Him.
