Prayer and Our Priorities

"All of life is competing priorities," they say. They're right, whoever they are.

Every day we are faced with so many choices, living under so many pressures. Bob Seger talked about "deadlines and commitments," and we're all too familiar with those. If we're not careful, we can lose all control of these responsibilities and find ourselves living under various "needs of the day" that are really just wrongly-ordered priorities. The place of prayer in our lives is a great example of this.

When Jesus was in the garden with the disciples, He told them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray," (Matthew 26:36b). His priority was to go to His Father in prayer. Knowing that His hour was upon Him, He prioritized time in prayer over and above the flurry of activities that could have otherwise occupied Him. He said "No" to certain things so He could say "Yes" to the most important thing--time with His Father.

The disciples didn't do well imitating Him. After He prayed, this is what happened: "And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, 'So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,'” (26:40-41).

Jesus then went away to pray some more. Then... "Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy," (26:43).

Surely that was it, right? No. "And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then He came to the disciples and said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and resting?'" (26:44-45a).

How often we imitate the disciples in getting our priorities mixed up. Let us commit today to prioritizing prayer: putting it first, investing in praise, intercession, and petition. Let us put off sleepiness, lethargy, and other creature-comforts that pull us down so that we can put on the higher and better way that the Lord has given us. It is work, no doubt, but it is the rewarding, soul-satisfying work that God has called us to.