Psalm 127:1-2
If God doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks. If God doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. It's useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
I don’t know about you, but plop me in front of the television after dinner, and unless the show or movie is really compelling – or I have something to do with my hands, like folding clothes – I will often be asleep before the first sitcom ends! Yet when I go to bed, I toss and turn and am wide awake! My mind races and I think of all sorts of things… what I need to do the next day, what I must buy at the grocery store, wondering why I ate that ice cream and/or didn’t work out, and more. If something happens to be weighing on my mind – a concern or a problem – I find drifting off to sleep even more challenging.
For some, going to sleep is not the issue – it’s staying asleep! Some people wake up too early in the mornings – others wake in the middle of the night. But many find going back to sleep to be difficult, if not impossible.
If you are one of those who cannot fall asleep because your “worries of the day” are weighing you down, this passage is for you. If you wake in the night, and your mind starts to race and keep you up, this passage is also for you. The bottom line is that God wants us to rest. He wants to take our worries, cares, mental lists and the “video loop of our day” and handle all of these things for us… and we need to let Him.
“Oh, if it were only that simple!” you may say. It actually can be. The next time you find yourself wide awake, pray. Ask God to take whatever is on your mind and keeping you up and handle it for you. Then simply start to talk to God… to pray for others… to express your cares and your burdens. I find that often I am talking to God one minute, and the next thing I know, I’ve “prayed myself to sleep!” The worst that can happen is that you make good use of your awake time by communicating with God. And often, as you share your thoughts with Him, He gathers them up and handles them so that you can rest.
You might think this passage is telling you not to work so hard. There is nothing wrong with hard work. But this passage is about a healthy balance… and rest… and resting in the LORD. The latter is something we all need to do more often. God is better than Ambien, Lunesta or Tylenol P.M.! If you are trying to handle life without Him, you’re bound to be in for some sleepless nights.
How much have you made God a part of things in your life? Do you have a good balance of work and rest? Is He handling things for you on a regular basis? How well have you been sleeping lately?
©2011 Debbie Robus
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