Harvest Daily 09/27/04
Harvest Daily Devotional
by Pastor Greg Laurie
September 27
Weep with Those Who Weep
He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." -Matthew 26:37-38
The ultimate triumph that took place at Calvary was first accomplished in prayer beneath the gnarled old olive trees of Gethsemane. Just as this was a place where olives were pressed to make oil, the Savior was pressed there to give His life for us.
There in the garden, Jesus said to Peter, James, and John, "Stay here and watch with me" (Matthew 26:38). Jesus led them into this holy moment of His life, and asked them to be there with Him. Notice that Christ didn't say, "Stay here and give Me a little sermon and explain why this is happening." He didn't need that. Jesus didn't ask for an explanation of any kind. He simply asked for His friends to pray with Him.
This request of Christ reveals to us that when a person is hurting, when a person is suffering, one of the best things we can do for them is simply be there and pray. I think far too often we feel the need to have an answer for everything. What we don't realize is sometimes the best thing we can do is be there. We need to follow the Apostle Paul's teaching and "weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15).
In the book of Job, we have a story of the horrible chain of events that took place in this man's life - this man of God. Job lost his family. He lost his possessions. And then he lost his health. The Bible tells us that there were those who came to comfort Job in that time of great difficulty. Initially, they didn't say a word to him for seven days. They were just there, weeping.
There in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' words provide the best example on how to counsel a suffering friend, "Stay here and watch with me."
Copyright (c) 2004 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.
