Reiterated from Sunday’s message. Click here to listen.
We’ve all been there: lying awake at night, our minds swimming in our troubles, emotions aflare, desperate for hope and help, or just downright distressed! To sleep would be both a blessing and a defeated surrender, yielding to the hopelessness of our troubles and an inevitably terrible outcome. We might even feel guilty for allowing ourselves to sleep in times when troubles are great.
How can I sleep in the midst of my trouble?
I offer a few brief reminders for perspective in the midst of our battle:
1. Staying up to worry accomplishes NOTHING
We know it in our heads, but we don’t always buy in with our hearts and practice. Jesus says these convicting words in Matthew 6:27: And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? It seems so natural to worry, because to be at ease seems too careless, too resigned to life’s problems. The disciples accused Jesus of this when he slept in the midst of the storm: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). Jesus challenged them in both Matthew 6 and in the midst of the storm: you of little faith.
2. Staying up to pray may be necessary
While we certainly cannot pray every night in lieu of sleep, there may be times when we need an extended period in prayer, drinking of God’s goodness, enjoying His presence, and assured by His promises. Especially if worry has hijacked our sleep anyway, we do well to find comfort and feed our souls in God’s hope rather than our worry. Jesus Himself spent the night in prayer (Luke 6:12) before selecting the twelve from among His disciples, and the night before His arrest and crucifixion (Matthew 26:41).
3. Sleep is good and necessary
How I would love to be more efficient with my time and exchange sleep for more opportunities to work on things. If the average person sleeps about 8 hours per night, that’s 1/3 of his life! At 75 years old, he would have slept about 25 years’ worth! I would rather be more like a giraffe, that could get by on less than 2 hours of sleep at night. Yet, Psalm 127:2 says, It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Sleep is a gift from God, and trying to skip it (regularly) is not worth it!
4. Sleep is our surrendered trust in God
Matt Smethurst says it well: “Sleep is our nightly declaration that we are not God.” How much we like to be in control of, well, everything! Yet we are limited, and ultimately, we trust our infinite Creator. We sleep at night, even in troubles, because God is working His plan, and He will not fail. It may be different than our plan, but that’s actually better, whether I realize it or not, and whether I like it or not. David came to this recognition in the midst of troubling circumstances that aren’t identified for us, but we know he went through many, including battle against his own son, who sought to kill him and take his thrown. David prayed these words in Psalm 3:4-5: I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me, and in Psalm 4:8: In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Sleepless nights only compound our anxiety and spiral us toward depression. We cannot pursue sleep as that which ultimately satisfies, but find our rest, comfort, and satisfaction in God, surrendering our control and laying to rest in Him, who gives hope and peace despite our circumstances.