When Sleep Doesn't Come

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. (Ps 121:4)

I have to thank God that I usually have very little trouble sleeping. I can have hard days and I can have long days, but when my head hits the pillow, its usually lights out. But every once in a while...sleep doesn't come. Sure sleeplessness provides an opportunity for prayer or a little extra reading or perhaps a bowl of Cherrios (my favorite sleeplessness remedy). Yet, I think the tossing and the turning, the mind that won't relax, hanging on to yesterday or anticipating tomorrow, the body that is wired for some unknown (or maybe well known) reason all can be viewed as gifts from God to remind us (again) that our rest (physical and spiritual) must be in Him.

Here is a reality that many of us know, but most of us fail to embrace. The message of the Bible from beginning to end is that God is lovingly and sovereignly in control of our lives. Isn't that the point of Mt 6, especially verses 25-34? And yet we live our lives as if we have sole control over everything. Even when things don't quite go our way, we think of what mid course corrections we can make, what lessons we can learn, how we can make improvements to what ever that didn't go our way. Yet, with all of this self focus, God gives us these gracious reminders that we are not even in control of our own sleep.

Of course, we need to remember that God's objective isn't simply to demonstrate His raw power and control. No, as a loving Creator, He always has twin objectives. For those who don't know Him, He is posting yet another sign post that He exists and that our lives are ultimately empty and pointless without Him. And for those who do know Him, He is calling us as a loving Father to rest and trust in Him. Perhaps Heb 4:10 says it best "for whoever has entered God's rest  has also rested from his works as God did from his"

In the end, sleep is good since it too is a gift from God.(Ps 127:2) But I think sleeplessness is good as well, because God can be glorified even in what he periodically withholds.

For God Alone be the Glory