READING: Psalms 3, 4, 13, 28, 55
“In peace I will both lie down and sleep.”
Psalm 4:8
In general, I don’t sleep well. Sometimes that’s because I have much on my mind—not necessarily negative—and I just haven’t learned how to turn off my brain at bedtime. At other times, I’ve had caffeine too late in the day. Occasionally, I’m just keyed up from something I’ve read or heard on television. Too often, though, it’s worry that keeps me awake at night.
It’s not clear what the psalmist was facing in psalms 3 and 4, but I suspect it was something more than anything I’ve ever faced. Many enemies were apparently rising up against him, and he turned to prayer in both the morning and the evening. Whatever he was facing, he knew he needed to cry out to the Lord; indeed, he could write, “The Lord hears when I call to Him” (Psa. 4:3). Moreover, he could describe a God-given sleep that allowed him to rest even in the midst of his ongoing concerns. “I was crying to the Lord with my voice,” he wrote, “and He answered me from His holy mountain. I lay down and slept” (Psa. 3:4-5). In psalm 4, he wrote again about the rest that God gave him: “You have put gladness in my heart,more than when their grain and new wine abound.In peace I will both lie down and sleep,for You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety” (Psa. 4:7-8).
Psalm 4 indicates that the psalmist was able to lie down and sleep at the same time; the two would come together. Some nights, that’s the longing of my soul. I can lie down simply because I’m weary, but that position doesn’t guarantee that I’ll sleep then. Too many nights, the best I could write is, “I don’t both lie down and sleep. I lie down, but sleep’s hard to find.” Only God can give the supernatural peace that allows us to leave everything at His feet—and lie down and rest there.
ACTION STEPS:
- Thank God for the sweet, resting peace that He gives us.
- Ask for that peace if you don’t experience it on some nights. Pray for me, too, that I will rest in Him.
PRAYER: “Father, I know You love me. I need Your help to sleep tonight.”
