32 They *came to a place named Gethsemane; and He *said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” 33 And He *took with Him Peter and [n]James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. 34 And He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” 35 And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might [o]pass Him by. 36 And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” 37 And He *came and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? 38 Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Again He went away and prayed, saying the same [p]words. 40 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. 41 And He *came the third time, and *said to them, “[q]Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being [r]betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

Dear God, I wonder what Peter, James, and John were praying (before they fell asleep). I wonder what Jesus wanted them to be praying. According to Jesus in verse 38, at least Peter should have been praying to not come into temptation.

I would imagine that their prayers were kind of along the lines of, “Father, I don’t know what is going on, but I’m scared. If this is the preparation for the battle with Rome, strengthen me and be with us. Give us victory. Let your glory reign and bring the entire world into submission to you. Be with Jesus and strengthen him as he leads us.”

Here, however, in retrospect, is how they probably should have prayed: “Father, I don’t know what is going on and I’m scared. Jesus seems scared too. Please be with him. Strengthen him. And give me the strength that I need to go through whatever lies ahead. Help me to glorify you with everything I say and do. Provide for this path that you have us on so that your name, above all names, will be glorified by everyone in the world.”

Frankly, in my life right now, I don’t have much more of an idea of what is going on around me than they did. Sure, the stakes for their situation were a lot higher than mine, but I think the sentiment should always be the same.

Father, I don’t know what is going on and I’m scared. Give me the strength I need to go through whatever lies ahead. Help me to glorify you with everything I say and do. Provide for this path that you have my wife and me on so that your name, above all names, will be glorified by everyone in the world.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen