Asleep at the Watch
My family will tell you I can fall asleep anytime and anywhere.
It’s not something that started as I have gotten older, it has always been this way. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen when I am behind the wheel and is usually triggered by a comfortable recliner and the Golf Channel.
Unfortunately, it can manifest itself in my walk with the Lord. Falling “asleep” when I should be focusing on what God has put before me is serious business. From Harvest.org, Pastor Greg Laurie addresses the seriousness of “dozing spiritually.”
It was a bad time to fall asleep.
Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up a mountain, and He was transfigured there before their eyes. His face shined like the sun and so did His garments. Meanwhile, the three disciples had fallen asleep.
Peter, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, saw a bright light and blurted out, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here!” (Luke 9:33 NLT).
Of course, this would not be the last time the terrific trio would fall asleep on the watch. Later in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said to them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38 NLT). Then He went a few feet away and began to pray. When Jesus came back, they were all asleep, missing out on a significant event in the life of the Lord.
I wonder how much we miss because of our spiritual slumber. We’re spiritually asleep when God wants to speak to us through His Word. Because we’re too preoccupied with other things, we don’t have the discipline to pick up the Bible and open it.
Or instead of going to church and being fed from the Word of God, we decide to do something else in its place. We’re dozing spiritually.
When the Lord would call on us to speak out for Him, we’re asleep on the watch. And like the disciples, we too, can miss out on what God wants to do in and through us.
Yet Romans 13:11 says to Christians, “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (NLT).
We need to be awake. We need to be alert. And we need to pay attention.
Pray
Father help me to focus on the work you have given me and that I always desire to worship and serve you.
—Mike