PSALM 119:147-148 – I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.

THEME OF THE DAY, NIGHT TIME VISITS FROM THE LORD. In today’s scripture, notice when the Psalmist is praying and meditating on God’s Word. Throughout the scriptures, we find God’s people having sleepless nights. Samuel was visited by the Lord at night. In the Psalms, David describes nights of no sleep. And the Apostle Paul acknowledged many sleepless nights.

Sleeplessness is an issue among many people. 27 percent of people in a Consumer Reports survey of 4,023 U.S. adults said they had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep most nights. 68 percent or an estimated 164 million Americans struggled with sleep at least once a week. The reasons are many. Physical problems, stresses in life, and anxiety are three. As Christians, we need to be careful not to immediately attribute our sleepless nights to something physical, or simply being kept awake because our minds are racing with so many things in life pushing us to anxiety, stress, and worry. There might be another reason why we cannot fall asleep. It may well be the Lord keeping us awake to spend time with Him in prayer and meditating on His Word. Perhaps He might be visiting us in the night because we are too busy to visit Him during the day.

The Psalmist in today’s scripture does three things in the night; a time when distractions are few and interruptions from people rare. And we may profit from them in our walks with the Lord too.

First, he didn’t stay in bed, tossing and turning – “I rise before dawn.” When sleeplessness comes with no known physical issues, get up, literally, out of bed and get in a position to encounter God. It might be a den, dining room table, or some other place which doesn’t put us in the prone position. Exercise the will to get up and seek the Lord.

Once we are out from under the covers, unburden our hearts to the Lord in prayer – “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.” Crying prayer is real prayer. It is the soul groaning under the weights of life and sin. It is the heart yearning for a touch from heaven; it is the pleas of a burdened child of God wanting comfort from his or her God. The Psalmist Hemah cried out, “O LORD, God of my salvation: I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry” (Psalm 88:1-2). Some of the sweetest times of prayer will be at night; when no one is around and in the stillness of night, the child of God communes with the God of all comfort. Don’t miss “night time” prayer meetings between your God and you. This might be the reason sleep evades you.

The third thing the Psalmist does at night is meditate on God’s Word – “My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.” Meditation is essential to spiritual growth. Meditation is not reading but includes reading. Meditation is not study but includes studying. Meditation is pondering for an extended period of time in a disciplined and prayerful attitude small portions of scripture. It is “feasting on God’s promises” and drinking long and slow at the wells of living water found in the Word. Now, I know what might be occurring in some minds right now. “But I am tired. I need sleep. I cannot read and pray late at night.” Really? Let me ask just one question. If God is keeping us awake at night, do we not believe the God who spoke all things into existence, even us, is able to strengthen us to fellowship with Him regardless of the hour? Remember what Nehemiah said to some very tired children of God, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Let’s not let the weakness of the flesh cause us to miss a night time visitation from the Lord.

So, the next time difficulty getting to sleep occurs; stop, ponder, and pray seeking if maybe the Lord is the cause and wants a little of our time when there are no interruptions or distractions keeping us from seeking and enjoying Him.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to be spiritually sensitive in the night hours when I cannot sleep.”

QUOTE: “Sleepless nights may very well be God’s means of getting our attention to spend time together.”