“These are the times that try men’s souls,” Thomas Payne once said. These are also the times that can steal your sleep and stress you out.
If you’ve been laid off, had to close a business, lost a loved one, or are just trying to stay afloat financially or emotionally in a world that seems to be crashing through ‘new normals’ that are hard to handle—you might be finding it difficult to sleep.
Yet these are the times you can sleep better than you ever have as you trust God wholeheartedly to provide.
Yes, God wants us to be productive and to have a good work ethic. He tells us in His Word that we are not to be people who are lazy and won’t put in a good day’s work (Proverbs 6:9-11). But if you haven’t been able to work (or sleep) due to circumstances beyond your control (or anyone’s control), you have a God who comes through for you even as you sleep.
God’s Word says in the Psalms that we are wasting our time getting up before the crack of dawn and going to sleep past midnight, toiling and striving to make things happen because the God of the Universe “gives to His beloved even in his sleep” (Psalm 127:2, NASB).
The next time you can’t sleep because you think you have to work through (or worry through) the night, remember that God has a way of working it out if you just rest in Him...literally.
God commands us to rest. And by trusting Him to provide, we are not only being obedient, but we can keep our bodies healthy and refreshed by getting a good night’s sleep.
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1. It Allows God to Provide for You
I tend to think if we’re awake worrying, instead of sleeping, God lets us continue to worry. But if we choose to switch off our minds at night and trust Him to do for us what we can’t do, He gets to work on what it is we need.
Although you may be most familiar with the New International Version’s translation of Psalm 127:1-2 (which ends with the phrase: “for he grants sleep to those he loves”), the New American Standard Bible, offers a more reliable translation:
Unless the Lord builds the house (or the business, home, project), they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, (or whatever it is you’re concerned about) the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. (Psalm 127:1-2 NASB, my notes added).
In the commonly-read NIV, where it reads “he grants sleep to those he loves” you’ll see a footnote after the word “sleep.” Follow that note down to the bottom of the page and you’ll find the words “or, for while they sleep he provides for” those he loves. Given the option of trusting or worrying, wouldn’t you rather trust God and get the sleep you need?
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2. It Relieves Your Stress
How many times do you lie awake at night worrying about your finances, how you’ll pay that bill, keep the house, or have enough for what the kids need?
Yet Jesus told His followers in Matthew 6:25-26: “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear…Look at the of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
That sounds like a pretty clear “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got this” statement from the Son of God, doesn’t it? In other words, “You have a God who is in control; so don’t you feel you have to be!” When you can trust that He is working on what you need, you can let go of the stress and get a peaceful night’s rest.
3. It Calms Your Striving Soul
In Psalm 4:8, David sang: “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (emphasis added).
David said that despite attempts on his life, even while he slept. If he was convinced God could spare his life and provide for him while he slept in caves and was hunted by a jealous king with a big sword, you can be assured of that same truth.
Your God safeguards you, physically, better than an expensive, state-of-the-art security system can. Therefore, He can safeguard you by providing for your needs, materially and financially, as well.
Psalm 121:2 says, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber.”
Consider that verse in light of Psalm 127:2 (“He gives to His beloved even in his sleep”) and you’ll realize another way that God doesn’t let you “slip” is the way He provides for you by not slumbering when you do, but by keeping watch and continuing to work on your behalf.
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4. It Makes You Feel Secure
When we can lie down in security and stability we can sleep. And who makes us secure and stable? In Psalm 16, David sang this about God, his “refuge”(verse 1):
“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure…with [God] at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:5, Psalm 16:8).
When God is our inheritance (Psalm 16:5-6), and our “stability” in these changing times (Isaiah 33:6), and the One in whom we trust, you and I will not be shaken—not by a stock market crash, not by a world pandemic, not by a job loss or a sinking economy or a bad financial forecast.
When God is your stability and security, you can sleep soundly knowing you are rich in the One who promises to “meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
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5. You Can Relax, Knowing God Is in Control
We worry and lose sleep because we just plain forget about God. We tend to forge ahead with our own plan and truly believe we are the ones who must make things happen.
But that doesn’t lessen God’s role or ability to control all things.
In Psalm 44:3 we read, “For by their own sword they did not possess the land, and their own arm did not save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, for You favored them” (NASB).
And in Job, God questions: “Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?”
When you remember Who is in control, and that He can move heaven and earth to provide for your every need, you can relax and let God be God, instead of trying to do His work, yourself.
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6. Because God’s Ways Are So Much Better Than Yours
Have you ever had a well-thought-out plan that just didn’t execute like you had hoped? You never have to lose sleep about that happening when you are trusting God and doing things His way.
Isaiah 55:8-11 tells us His ways are higher than ours. If He can control the vast complexities of the universe, He can control the circumstances and events in our lives to provide us with what we need. And if He can take care of our eternal life, certainly He can be trusted with our everyday life.
Psalm 18:30 says, “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in Him.”
When you really believe that God is a far better manager of your money, and a far better provider of your needs than you or anyone else, you can rest assured that He’s got this…and you can get some sleep.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/VictorTongdee
Originally published Friday, 29 May 2020.