November 6

“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” — Matt 26:41 BSB

Why is the flesh so weak? Because it is fallen, sinful, and in alliance with the temptations presented to it. The flesh is weak against temptation for the same reason a person who loves alcohol is weak when offered a drink. If we had no internal desires for evil—no pride, no rebellion, no sinful nature, no carnal mind, no vile affections—would we fear temptation? No; we would be armored against it, like dipping a match in water. But here lies our weakness. If we could always resist, we would conquer, but we can’t resist without God’s special power. This is a lesson we must all learn. The weakness of the flesh shows itself in compliance, in nonresistance, in yielding—often without a fight, sometimes even playing a worse and more wicked part. How striking are the words of Deer: “That mariner’s mad part I played, who sees, yet strikes the rock.”

Is there anyone who knows and fears God who hasn’t played that mad part—seen the danger ahead but still run into it? Haven’t we all mourned, sighed, cried, groaned, and repented, only to be overcome again? Haven’t we seen the evil of the snare, felt the rope around our neck, and yet become entangled again? It’s through these experiences that we learn the weakness of the flesh. The flesh is weak to believe, weak to hope, weak to love, weak to fight, weak to resist, weak to overcome, weak to pray, weak to stand—weak to everything good, but strong to everything evil. Indeed, the flesh is weak. What are all our resolutions, promises, desires, efforts, and struggles worth unless God holds us up by His mighty power?

And yet “the spirit is willing.” Here is where the child of God stands apart from those who are left to fall prey to temptation. He has a willing spirit, which others do not. But how is the spirit willing? It’s made “willing in the day of God’s power.” It’s a new spirit, a free spirit, a holy and gracious spirit, and therefore, a willing spirit. But what is it willing to do? It’s willing to obey, to watch, to pray, to conform to God’s will, to crucify sinful desires, to put off the old self and put on the new. And how does this willingness show itself? By the very struggle it engages in against the flesh—the spirit willing, the flesh weak, with the flesh wrapping around the spirit, and the spirit struggling under the tight grip of the flesh.

This is the source of the conflict. The spirit is willing to read God’s Word, to pray, to seek His face, and pour out the heart to Him, but the flesh finds prayer a burden. The spirit is willing to make sacrifices, endure persecution, bear afflictions, carry the cross, suffer with Jesus, and resist sin to the point of blood, but the flesh is weak, dragging the spirit down, unable to stand firm, and giving in to every evil suggestion, listening to every whisper of Satan, and practically being in league with him.

This, then, is why there must be watchfulness and prayer. If there were no willing spirit, there would be no need to watch; it would be pointless. There would be no need for prayer either, as it wouldn’t be accepted by the Lord of the Sabbath. But where there is a willing spirit, though the flesh is weak, God looks at that willingness.