Sleepless Nights

 

From time to time life brings troubles, the merely inconvenient kind and then the kind that keep you up all night, literally. In the middle of inconvenience we can lose perspective, in the middle of sleepless nights we can lose hope.

 

Where do we go for hope in the middle of life’s sleepless nights? Most people who could potentially help are sleeping, but there is One, who is not sleeping. His Word brings both perspective and hope, even in the middle of a long sleepless night.

 

God’s Truth (in the middle of the night or the middle of a trial) is the buoy that keeps us afloat as the waves of life toss us high and low (and sometimes oh so low). There is a place for counseling, medication, good nutrition, clarity ,fellow compassion…. and we should not be too proud to avail ourselves to what could and often does help. Still, something is lacking, the underlying anxiety is there, and it is called untruth.

 

Most of what causes you anxiety is not what is, but what you fear could be.

 

“What if I am given more than I can handle?”

“What if no one can help me?”

“What if this pain doesn’t stop?”

“What if, What if, What if…..”

 

What do you do with all these “What if”’s?

 

Here is an idea. Turn them into……..

 

“What is, What is, What is..”

 

Like this.

 

Write down your anxieties, call them out, get to the root cause.

The question is not “What if my car won’t start?” The question is “What if I am stranded indefinitely on this desert highway and die of hunger?”.... and the question that follows that is “What will happen when I die?”

 

“What if” is quite capable of answering your questions, though the answers are incorrect. “What if” replies to question number one with something like “No one will come along to help you”, and to question number two with something like “Maybe there is not a God or a Savior to trust so that is the end of you or it is a miserable end”.

 

“What is” can also answer your questions. You will find the answers in God’s Word.

 

“What is” answers question number one this way-

 

“..I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)

 

and question number two this way-

 

“But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, with no place to dwell.” Psalm 49:15 (ESV)

 

“What is” says things like-

 

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”                                                                                                                                                        Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)

 

and

 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)

 

 

God created this world in beauty and perfection, but man disobeyed God, sin entered the world and satan now rules it. Someday satan himself will be destroyed and those who know God through trusting Christ will meet God Himself in His beauty and perfection. Till then there will be sleepless nights. God has promised (read it for yourself), that He has answers, plans, solutions, comforts, for those sleepless nights.

 

We do not walk alone, it is time to reclaim the night. Reclaiming it does not mean you will no longer need a sleep aid. It does not mean the pain medicine or the counseling will take away all your pain. It does mean that there is a Redeemer who lives not only to redeem you, but your sleepless nights. It does mean that His joy and His presence can lighten your heart no matter how many hours are left until the morning comes.

 

Paving a new road for your middle-of-the-night thoughts may not be accomplished ‘overnight’. Fear is likely your default. It is a poor default. With God, you can work on a new default.

 

“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

 

Life brings troubles.

 

When it does..we bring God (or rather acknowledge His presence in the midst of them).

 

Truth wins. :)

 

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”

                                                                                                       Psalm 4:8 (ESV)