Diligence

 June 4, 2022

It was late. The day had been busy with preparations for the celebration, capping a week of intense teaching and political subterfuge. Things were no different then than now; the power brokers were doing all they could to shut down speech they didn’t like, but the pushback from the people was significant. By the time the evening meal was over, it was late; the tension around the table was almost palpable, and now they were going for a short walk to a favorite place of prayer and meditation to finish out the day.

Little did Peter know what would happen before morning. He, along with John and James, were invited to an exclusive prayer meeting with Jesus, which they attended, but not altogether. Worn out as they were, try as they might, they couldn’t keep their eyes open. Jesus walked a little further and prayed as he had never before prayed, till he sweat blood. Meanwhile, Peter and the others slept. After awhile, Jesus came back and gently chastised them, to no avail. 

Suddenly, there were lights and shouting! The religious leaders saw their chance and took it. Led by one of Jesus’ own followers, they descended upon Jesus, and dragged him off. Peter followed from a distance, but before sunrise, just as Jesus had predicted, he had denied three times that he had ever known Jesus. John tells us he wept bitterly.

I wonder if Peter was thinking of that long-ago night when he penned his second letter as preserved in our Bibles. Twice in chapter 1, he speaks of diligence: 

 “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,…Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;” —II Peter 1:5,6, 10 

I’m guessing he remembered all too well how he stumbled that night in the garden. Perseverance was not his strong suit back then, but he learned his lesson well, and was diligent, working hard to make sure that never again would he deny his Lord. 

It is tempting to think of prayer in the terms of the old gospel song, “In the Garden,” where we walk and talk with Jesus in sweetness and light, forgetting that in the garden that night, Jesus found only a battlefield with the devil and perhaps with his own soul, as he prayed “Let this cup pass from me.” This was no comforting time of peace and safety. Peter remembered, and calls us not to comforting, but to combative prayers, where we must diligently…with determined effort persevere. 

With my son’s melanoma diagnosis, I have been driven to my knees more than ever before, and have been challenged through the Word of God to dig in, praying without ceasing, not only for Nate, but for souls to be saved, for the work of God to prosper, for the darkness to be pushed back by the light of Christ. This is no stroll through the park, but a fight to the finish! May we stand firm in the power of the Holy Spirit, holding one another up as Aaron and Hur held Moses’ arms so Joshua could win the fight. Our prayers are not only for ourselves, but for others unnamed, who struggle in the valley below against a determined enemy who must be met with even the even greater determination and endurance that comes only through persistent prayer.