Annie
Scriptures: Matthew 26: 36-41 John 5: 19-30 Philippians 4:13 Jeremiah 29: 11-13 “Save me O Lord, while waking and guard me while sleeping, that awake I may watch with Christ and asleep may rest in peace”
Over the past eighteen months, these words have become so familiar and so real. Words that resonate within my soul with such assurance and comfort that God hears and will answer my prayer. I find myself turning toward God before falling asleep, repeating them, not as a ritual but as a declaration that uplifts me and reminds me of Whose I am. Eternally.
It’s wonderful that we can trust our Father God to guard us as we sleep, but to watch with Christ is such an amazing privilege and honour, and so far from what we could ever deserve through anything we would do. Let us for a few moments meditate upon what that means to “watch with Christ”.
Why, do you think that it is necessary that we aspire to watch with Christ? We are His followers, believers that He is our Messiah, Saviour of the world, Victor over death and hell. Surely we should be watching Him and making every effort to live in the Salvation and Victory that He paid such an unimaginable price for. Yet, a vital part of this striving to live in Him and in the life He offers us, is to do as He did. He never lost sight of His Father and what His Father was doing. He constantly watched His Father, never taking His eyes off what the Father would have Him do.
As our Messiah faced the torture and the torment that was right then marching towards Him in the guise of the Roman soldiers, He took Peter, James and John aside from the others to watch and pray with Him. To watch what? The utter depths of agony of their Friend and Master? No, I don’t think that was it. If they had not fallen asleep, would they have witnessed the most amazing of sights. The communion of Father and Son that enabled Jesus to face all that was to happen. The tender embrace that sustained Jesus as He hung, alone, on Calvary’s tree. The final assurance needed to enable Him to defeat death once and for all.
All through His ministry, Jesus had demonstrated that He did nothing of Himself, everything He did was what He had seen His Father do. He healed the paralysed man on the Sabbath because He had seen His Father working. Jesus knew He was on earth to fulfil the will of His Father, not out of duty or obligation, but out of pure Love. A Love that meant He was constantly watching, waiting on His Father to reveal the next step on His journey. A communion so intense, so joyful, so precious that He relished and delighted in being within its sphere.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit had lived in this communion for the whole of forever. Intertwined in One Being, yet still three Persons. There was no way that Jesus would ever have stepped outside of that unity, never once could it be broken.
To watch with Christ is to, within our puny strength and understanding, seek the Father with every atom of our being, with all of our heart. But always and ever, with Christ. It may seem impossible when life’s busyness and worries flood in, but we are able to do it, through Christ who strengthens us. By the power of Holy Spirit who lives in us, we are able to take up this honour and watch with Christ.
Prayer: Abba Father, Your thoughts towards us are of peace, to give us a future and a hope. As we watch with Christ and seek You with all of our hearts You will reveal Yourself to us, You will tenderly embrace and sustain us, enabling us in Your Love and security to walk the path You have for us. Thank you Abba, Amen.