What Jesus Did! 'They Didn't Know What to Say!' — Mark 14:40

Monday, November 4, 2024

When [Jesus] returned to [the disciples] again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn't keep their eyes open. And they didn't know what to say.
— Mark 14:40 NLT

Key Thought

Sometimes we just fail. Maybe we fail because we don't understand the gravity of a behavior. Maybe it's because we're just too weary and distraught to do what we need to do. Maybe it's because we're weak or lazy or ... However, the bottom line is that we are flawed people living in a fallen world. Despite our best intentions, our flesh sometimes triumphs over our faith. I can't think of anything that reminds us of our desperate need for Jesus to be our Savior more than Jesus' closest followers' letting him down in his moment of greatest need. Yet he dies for them and then calls them back to his service. What a message of grace triumphing over sin, disappointment, failure, and death.

Today's Prayer

Lord Jesus, I pray in your name so often to offer praise and thanksgiving for things and to request things from the Father that I sometimes forget to thank you for your incomparable love, mercy, and grace to die for us - to die for me - even though I have let you down and hurt you with my failure and sin. Thank you! Thank you, dear Father, for such a divine plan to deal with human weakness and sin. All praise be to you, and to your Son, in whose name I praise and thank you. Amen.

Related Scripture Readings

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2 Related Resources by Heartlight

Spiritually Muddled
Article by Mike Barres
How clear is your thinking? Mike Barres reminds us that we often confuse our muddled thinking, our inability to decide what to do, not because the decision is difficult, but because we don't want to obey.
Under the Passover Moon
Article by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg
So why did those friends of Jesus fall asleep on him? Lois Tverberg shares from her blog on the Jewishness of Jesus and about why the disciples fell asleep on the night of Jesus' betrayal.

Illustration

Illustration of Mark 14:40 NLT — When [Jesus] returned to [the disciples] again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn't keep their eyes open. And they didn't know what to say.

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About This Devotional

What Jesus Did! is a series of one-year devotional guides through each gospel, using one short scripture passage each day and following the Gospel in sequential order. Each devotional consists of a scripture passage and a reflection and a prayer which open up the day's scripture and show how it challenges you to live for Jesus.

What Jesus Did! is written by Phil Ware and is available in book form.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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