Exhausted From Sorrow

“When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.” Luke 22:45

Have you ever been so physically and spiritually worn out that you couldn’t do anything, not even pray? Have you found yourself in a difficult situation for any length of time and then one day you realize that it is about to get worse.

Maybe you have been struggling financially for so very long and one day out of the blue you find in your mailbox an unexpected bill with no resources for payment. Or maybe, you have been in a difficult job for quite a while and have been praying that things would turn around, instead you find yourself demoted or relocated to a different department. Perhaps you have been praying over an ongoing illness and instead of receiving healing, you are diagnosed with still another malady. That is exactly the context that the disciples are facing in our scripture today.

Here is the setting. “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation’. He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed”. Luke 22:39-41

What follows is the sacred yet familiar account of Jesus asking the Father to take the cup of suffering that he was to endure from him. Jesus resolved that it not be his will but his Fathers that remained. There are several indications that this was a time of intense prayer. In the text it tells us that “he knelt down and prayed”. At this time and in this culture, prayer was usually done standing up. One commentary suggested that he might have actually fallen on his face in anguished prayer.

The second indication can be found in verse 44. “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” The language is plain, Jesus’ prayer was earnest.

You might be wondering, why write this devotional? Is she about to condemn the disciples for falling asleep rather then praying? No just the opposite. I read a quote just recently and it got me to thinking. It reads, “Strenuousness of prayer is demanded by the energy with which Satan is pressing his suit”. (Beck, “Imitatio Christi,” 39; cf.R.E. Brown, Death of the Messiah, 188-189)

Could it be that the more intense the battle with the enemy, the more intense our season of prayer ought to be? When the battle heats up do we get exhausted from our sorrow or do we step up our prayer lives. At this time things were suddenly going very wrong for this band of disciples. They were starting to realize what was ahead both physically and spiritually and the reality of it overwhelmed them. The disciples behavior stands in stark contrast both to Jesus’ initial instructions and to Jesus’ own behavior. Jesus was moved to more intensive time in prayer while the disciples were paralyzed by their circumstances.

But Luke’s portrait of their failure is not a condemning one. Luke excuses their behavior on account of excessive sorrow. Luke wasn't and God isn't insensitive to what we are going through when we are too overcome even to pray. Jesus repeats his instructions to “pray that you may not come into the time of trial”. Luke 22:46 We can assume that their failure on Mount of Olives was neither final nor fatal.

Perhaps you have found yourself in a season of prayerlessness due to overwhelming circumstances and your prayer life has spiritually fallen asleep. The best thing you can do is to recognize that if the battle is this intense, then satan is after you. If he is after you with that kind of voracity then you can be assured that victory waits on the other side of that battle.

While Jesus wasn’t delivered from the cup that God had asked Him to drink, God did send an angel to give him the strength he needed to accomplish what God asked Him to do. “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” (Luke 22:44) While Jesus endured great suffering, he achieved an everlasting victory just three days later when he rose from the grave. God may not deliver you from whatever situation that has clouded your life, but he will strengthen you and bring you through it. There is a victory waiting on the other side.

If you are overwhelmed with excessive sorrow and unable to pray, can I be so bold to suggest you get with some prayer friends in Christ and tell them. Allow them to strengthen you through their prayers and bring refreshment where there is exhaustion. Then follow the example of Jesus and step up to a season of such intense prayer that the enemy would have no choice but to put his tail between his legs and flee.

"Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wait. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up." James 4:7-10