Could You Not Stay Awake?
March 6
After celebrating the Passover with His disciples, Jesus walked with them to the Garden of Gethsemane, an olive grove just outside of Jerusalem where He often went to pray. (Luke 22:39)
It’s interesting that He would choose this place to pray, especially this night. The name Gethsemane means “oil press.” Not surprisingly, Matthew also uses some very strong language to describe the mental and emotional oil press that Jesus experiences here on His last night before the crucifixion. Leaving the other eight disciples at the entrance, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John further into the Garden with Him.
Matthew uses words such as “sorrowful” and “troubled” in verse 37. This word troubled is interesting. It means depression, but it’s more than just feeling gloomy. It’s the strongest of the three Greek words in the New Testament for depression.[1]
In the next verse, Matthew uses other words, “deeply grieved.” (v. 38) This word means ‘encompassed with grief’[2] or greatly grieved, exceedingly sorrowful[3]. In fact, Jesus isn’t just sad; He says this deep grief is about to kill Him. He implores the three disciples to remain and stay alert as He treks further into the Garden.
Then, collapsing and lying on his face, Jesus cries out to His Father, begging Him to deliver Him from the anguish, yet submitting to His will. For the second time, He returns to Peter, James, and John, finding them sound asleep. He left them and again prayed for deliverance. Returning again, He found the three disciples asleep. Each of the disciples had told Jesus they wouldn’t betray Him, but when it came to a small test of staying awake, they couldn’t handle it.
Jesus didn’t ask much from these three disciples: stay awake while I pray. Keep watch. Stay vigilant. Be alert. And pray you don’t fall into temptation.
And they couldn’t stay awake for even an hour. That also raises a question: Could they not just stay awake for an hour? Or could they not pray for an hour? They must have sensed Jesus’ overwhelming emotion. Or were they completely oblivious to His agony? Perhaps it wasn’t just a question of staying awake, but staying awake and praying for an hour.
Application
“Couldn’t you stay awake and pray for just an hour?” Often, He had rebuked them for their lack of faith. And now, He rebukes them for their lack of diligence to merely stay awake and pray while He went deeper in the Garden to pray fervently.
Have you ever felt such gravity about a situation that you agonized in prayer? Unfortunately, most of us are more like the disciples than we would like to admit.
When you consider the lost people around you, the hurting people around you, could you stay awake for just an hour and pray? Could you simply pray for an hour? I’m not talking about “saying your prayers”, which would only take a few minutes. I’m talking about engaging with the God of heaven, standing in the gap between Him and their need.
Could you be vigilant for an hour?
How would you go about doing that? How could you go about doing that?
Here are a few thoughts:
It’s difficult to begin cold-turkey, expecting to go more than a few minutes. But as you warm up to praying for extended periods of time, your time with God becomes richer and richer.
Pray for your own walk with God: to be close and clean in your walk with Him.
Pray for insight and application as you read your Bible.
Don’t let your conversation with God be a monologue.
Don’t just bring a shopping list to your time with God.
Praise Him. Worship Him. Sing to Him. Confess sins to Him, as He brings them to your mind.
Listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason!
Put together a prayer notebook where you can keep track of your time with God. Write down what you hear.
Keep track of your prayer needs. Look for Bible verses that relate to your prayer needs.
Don’t just pray for yourself, your family, and friends.
Pray for lost friends and family members.
Pray for believers who have strayed away from God. Pray for their salvation.
Pray for your church and your small group. Pray for your pastors, Bible study leaders, and worship team members.
Pray for the spread of the Gospel around the world.
Pray for those who have committed their lives to share the Gospel with people here and in other countries.
Pray for your country, state, county, and city’s government leaders. Pray for world leaders.
Pray about world events.
Pray for a move of God to bring people to Jesus.
Read through, and pray through the Psalms of praise and adoration. Use the Psalms as models for your own prayers. Don’t just use your favorite Psalms. Read and pray through the “Psalm of the Day”
[1] Strong, James. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1995.
[2] Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Being Grimm’s Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, Harper & Brothers., 1889, p. 503.
[3] Mounce, William D. Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words, Zondervan, 2006, p. 1241.
© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman