“He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by” (NLT).

The first invitation to keep watch was for the purpose of hope. Hope may be stout, but it is also incredibly fragile. We must do everything we can to stand guard over our hope, lest it be robbed from us. The Psalmist proclaims, “I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn” (Psalm 130:5-6 NLT). Consider the sentry. A watchman in his tower. He is employed to do one thing only. He is to be on high alert. To stand guard. To watch through the night. He has no control over what happens in the dark. He has no control over when the sun will rise. He can only watch and wait. He has only to be cautious. To observe. To be ready. He is powerless against the night and what the night may bring. Yet, in all his powerlessness against the night, the watchman is the first line of defense. We are being called to be watchmen. We are watching for the morning light.

Hope is the morning light. It will come. God has promised its arrival. But, first, we must face the perilous night. The night will always happen before the morning. It brings its own set of terrors and challenges. The night will do everything it can to rob us of our hope. It will wear at you. It will tire you. It will seem unrelenting. It will drain you. It will, if it can, make you forget about the promise of the dawn. Hope is the first thing the enemy will try to steal from us, because hope is itself a beacon of light. Wherever there is light, there can not be darkness. The darkness will lay siege to our city. It will surround us. It will reach in to overcome us. The one who trusts in the Lord and in His promises is like a mighty watchman standing guard over his city. If the sentry is there keeping watch, the night shall not prevail.

We will all face the night at some point in our life. Jesus was not even exempt from the night. “My soul is crushed,” Jesus shared with His friends, as He invited them to keep watch with Him. Jesus is no stranger to the battleground of hope; yet, Jesus knew what the light of dawn would bring and took on the night for all our sakes. By example, Jesus demonstrates how to keep watch by inviting us to pray with Him. Notice, He did not say to His disciples, keep watch for yourselves, or by yourselves, but to watch with Him.

We do not often think about the fact that when we are praying, we are not praying to Jesus, but rather, we are praying with Jesus. We are joining in the never-ending prayer that Jesus is speaking over us, for us, and on our behalf to the Father. In this, Jesus is reminding us we are never alone. We may be facing the darkest of nights, but we are not a solitary figure alone against the shadows of night. We are a sentry, standing guard with the very One who created the night and the coming dawn. Our hope is not a solitary act of faith we do in isolation. Jesus will not call us to do anything He is not already doing. He will always be there with us. To be able to pray and keep watch with Jesus is an incredible privilege in which we have been invited to participate.

Likewise, Jesus did not just invite one disciple to keep watch with him, but a group of disciples. This is important, because it illustrates that we are meant to stand together in the coming night and together in the darkest hours of night. When we are keeping watch with our fellow brothers and sisters, we can double down and strengthen the areas where we are weakest. The fellowship of others is also a comfort to us when feel the crushing presence of the night upon our heels. Prayer, fellowship, and scriptures are essential tools for a successful sentry to have on his belt. Without these vital tools, the watchman may falter in keeping hope alive and shining brightly through the night. Stand firm in the night, keep watch, and know that the Lord is with us.

Let us look to the dawn, our hope, for “the faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning” (Lam. 3:22-23 NLT); “hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows” (Psalm 130:7 NLT).