Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. There was a set time for Jesus to meet His death. There was a set time for the disciples to be tempted. What I see from todays Scripture is failure on the disciples part to prepare for the time at hand.
You will recognize this scripture from the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ temptation in the garden. We know from these scriptures Jesus enters into this battle in an agony,
Luke 22. He is sorrowful and troubled. Scripture tells us His soul is sorrowful unto death and he asks Peter, James and John to watch or literally is the Greek, to keep awake with him.
You will remember through this event, Jesus comes to the disciples on three different occasions and wakes them up. The first time, from Luke's gospel, we find Peter, James and John, ‘sleeping for sorrow’. Jesus wakes them and says to them, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus leaves them and goes back and uses the time he has to prepare his hour. Coming to them a second time he find them asleep again.
On this second occurrence, Jesus wakes them when he finds them asleep from Mark 14:40 it says ‘they did not know what to answer him’. Jesus leaves again returning to his prayers and finally when he has been strengthened to meet his death, he comes to the disciples the third time and asks again, “Are you still sleeping?
Jesus was prepared but his disciples were not. The thing that I find so interesting here is that Jesus gave them time, opportunity, encouragement, instruction and did not do anything to stop the hour of their testing from coming to them. He made sure they had every opportunity to overcome. He did all He could but ultimately allowed them to make their own choices.
This tells me, that Jesus works to prepare me to meet every situation we face in the fullness of His power and might. All heavens resources are there for me to tap into. There is no temptation common to man that God, who is faithful, does not make a way of escape so we are able to bear it.
The question is simply this; do I take the opportunities given me to prepare for my hour?