Our God Gives Sleep

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

Psalm 4:7

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Sweet, Restful Sleep

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*YAAWWWN*

If that first line describes you, you are not alone.  Estimates say that 1 in 3 adults (about 84 million people) are not getting enough sleep.  A third of the population reports that the sleep that they do get is rated as “fair” or “poor.”

One might say that we are reaching pandemic levels when it comes to the inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get enough sleep.

Yet, the Bible depicts the Christian as one who is resting ever so sweetly.  His God blesses him with the most peaceful pillow time all through the night.  

When he lies down, he isn’t consumed with thoughts racing through his head.  He doesn’t twist and turn.  Neither does he awake erratically and have trouble falling back to sleep.  

Rather, he is able to drift off easily and then rise again in the morning with the new vigor for another day.

How does one get this gift?  It comes through faith in the Lord and a deep trust in all that he has revealed in His word.

Granted, there are some who have conditions where solid becomes much more difficult.  Premenopausal women may have some problems due to hormonal changes.  Those with chronic pain or other such physical ailments can expect to have an interrupted sleep.  These are the crosses that the Lord calls them to bear with grace and special reliance upon His power.

These are the exceptions to the rule though.  The Lord’s normal way of working in and among his people is to provide a night of rejuvenation through the blessing of approximately 7-8 hours of sleep.  

Or, to put it another way, those who are living by faith end up sleeping by night.

So, over the course of the next several issues of the Hopewell Weekly, we are going to hitting the sack.  We’ll consider how you might dive into the dreamworld and gain the gift that God so generously gives.

As we prepare for this series, we must admit one very important thing: sleep is not merely a natural activity of the body.  There is, one might say, a supernatural element to a good night’s rest.  It is a grace that God bestows; a blessing that he kindly grants to his people.

That obviously means that the first step towards that ever blessed REM state is to trust fully in God and devote yourself to Christ.  It’s very true that “there is no rest for the wicked.”  Those who do not fear the Lord will, quite frequently, be unrested.  To be sure, hell itself is a place of constant unrest and the destiny of all who do not trust in God.

A disturbed sleep can often be a symptom of a disordered soul.  This is why one must being to put Christ as the head of his life.

Yet the beauty of the gospel is that there is the ability to lie down in peace and sleep.  Jesus himself expresses this when he says, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

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Joy Everlasting Seminar - May 25th
Scripture say that the Joy of the Lord is our strength.  Come join us for a one day seminar on the Everlasting Joy.  We will explore how we may gain freedom from the pestering burdens of anxiety and fear and experience the Lord’s everlasting joy in the daily rhythms of life.

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