Walking with Jesus — The Sleepless Nights

Walking with Jesus — The Sleepless Nights

“In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.” — Psalm 127:2

Anne can fall asleep in less than two minutes. Meanwhile, I lie beside her, trying to figure out how we are going to handle everything on our plate.

When I ask how she can possibly sleep with so much going on, she replies, the Word says, “The sleep of the righteous is sweet.”

Well, that is comforting—for her.

I have searched the Scriptures, but I still haven’t found anything about the guy sleeping next to the righteous one.

But seriously, sleepless nights can be lonely. The house grows quiet, yet our thoughts seem to grow louder. We calculate bills, replay conversations, worry about people we love, and wrestle with circumstances that will not be resolved before morning, no matter how many times we turn them over in our minds.

I know what it means to carry responsibility. I also know how easily caring about something becomes trying to control everything. Somewhere along the way, “I need to do my part” becomes “Everything depends on me.”

It does not. But that truth can be harder to remember at two in the morning, when the people I am praying for seem to run on an endless loop through my mind.

On Sunday, I reminded someone that I was still praying for the nephew they had asked me to pray for six months ago. When I tell you I am praying for someone, I mean it. Those concerns do not disappear when the conversation ends or when the lights go out.

But I am learning that faithfully praying for someone does not mean I must carry the weight of the outcome. I can keep bringing them before the Lord without taking His responsibility upon myself.

Psalm 127 reminds us that our work depends upon the Lord. Before speaking about sleep, the psalmist tells us that unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain; unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

The builders still build. The guards still watch. Faith does not excuse us from responsibility, but it reminds us that our efforts cannot take the place of God.

Neither can our worrying.

This passage is not a rebuke to everyone who struggles to sleep, nor is a sleepless night evidence that God loves us less. Faithful people have restless nights, too. Sometimes we bring our burdens to the Lord and still lie awake. He has not abandoned us in those hours.

There is something especially tender about this psalm’s association with Solomon. In 2 Samuel 12:24–25, we learn that the Lord loved Solomon and sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah, meaning “loved by the Lord.”

Before Solomon built the temple, ruled a kingdom, or became known for wisdom, he was loved.

That is worth remembering when I am lying awake with tears in my eyes. I have shed more than I could count, worrying about what remains undone and measuring my worth by what I have—or have not—accomplished. But God’s love is not a wage I earn by exhausting myself. I can stop working for the night without stepping outside His care.

I am still learning this. Anne apparently has the nighttime portion of the lesson down considerably better than I do.

But tonight, instead of rehearsing every possible outcome, I can name my concerns before the Lord, ask Him what is mine to do tomorrow, and entrust to Him what I cannot control. If the worries return, I can bring them to Him again.

And if sleep is slow to come, I can remember that I am not alone in the darkness.

The One who watches over us neither slumbers nor sleeps. We do not have to stay awake to help Him keep watch.

Let us pray

Dear Heavenly Father, You know what keeps me awake—the people I love, the responsibilities I carry, and the things I cannot fix. Help me do faithfully what You have given me to do, without trying to carry what belongs in Your hands. Quiet my anxious thoughts and grant me rest. When sleep does not come easily, remind me that You are near and that I am loved. Thank You that Your care does not end when my strength does.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Lord be with you.
In His love,

ray