ISAIAH 26:9 – My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

THEME OF THE DAY. NIGHTTIME VISITATIONS. All of us experience sleepless nights. Believers and unbelievers alike. There are multiple reasons for being kept awake at night. Some of these reasons are common to both believers and unbelievers; work, stress, anxiety, worry, sickness, physical discomfort, and perhaps a dinner that didn’t set well into the late hours. But there is a reason for not sleeping that is not common to believers and unbelievers. We might call this “Nighttime visitations.” These are times when a Divine Hand prevents sleep. It happens. It really does. We have not only examples throughout church history like Evan Roberts who was kept awake to “meet the Lord” four consecutive nights from around midnight to four in the morning. It happened to Jonathan Edwards for consecutive days prior to preaching his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” And it happened throughout individuals in the Bible. Here are four.

First, Jacob – The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:22-28).

Another example is David – My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy (Psalm 63:5-7).

Moving into the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Himself models for us visitations from God in the night – In these days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God (Luke 6:12).

A final example is the Apostle Paul who experienced numerous sleepless nights – And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9-10).

In all the cases of “nighttime visitations”, we find the common theme is seeking God, predominantly in prayer, but also through His Word. And it may beg the question, “Why did God visit His people in the nighttime?” A couple of reasons. One, less distractions. In the dead of night, the quiet and stillness of the season, affords an opportunity to be alone with God. Another reason for the Lord visiting us at night is that we might just be too busy during the day to seek Him. And in His love, He might be keeping us awake for fellowship.

So, when sleeplessness occurs, don’t dismiss it. It just might be the Lord seeking our attention.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to be sensitive to Your leading and wooing me to Yourself.”

QUOTE: “God often visits His children in the night because they may be too busy to hear Him in the day.”