The first part of the song is based on Mark 14:38, where Jesus is speaking to Simon Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane. They had gone to the garden to pray, but Jesus’ disciples could not even stay awake with Him. Mark records that Jesus said ‘”Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”’
I think when Jesus came and found the disciples sleeping, He was not angry with them, but He was disappointed. He knew what was in their hearts, but the flesh was winning. He also knew what was about to take place and that they needed to be prayerful as the events to come would challenge them greatly. No matter how hard we try to do things on our own, we are just not strong enough; we need Jesus to be our strength in all matters of our lives.
I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Jesus Paid It All for You
Jesus paid it all; what truly beautiful words! He did not just pay in part for us; He paid in full! We owe Jesus our everything because He deserves nothing less. It is because of our sin that we were not able to be with God, but Christ paid that in total and the blot of sin is gone. It was the blood of Jesus that washed us white as snow!
Praise the One Who Paid Our Debt
And so what do we do?
We trust him. We look forward to that day when we will stand before his throne, repeating the wonder that he died to save our souls. Yes, we will trust him today, and forsake the foolish pursuits that used to consume our lives. We will stop condemning ourselves for past sins. We will relinquish the shame we’ve harbored for so long and we will abandon our self-absorbed efforts to make ourselves worthy. We will turn from our sin, we will trust him.
