PSALM 127:1, 2 – Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

THEME OF THE DAY. SLEEP WELL, CHILD OF GOD. Ever suffer from a fitful night of sleep, kept awake by worry and anxiety over what is going on in your life or the many “what ifs” that might be looming over the horizon of your life? The proper answer to that question might be, “Duh! Of course. Who hasn’t?” And that would be right. Each of us faces things in life causing worry and anxiety. Those are the results of living in a sinful world and the two sins we battle with as a result. Yes, worry and anxiety are sins. They are not “just who we are”. They are the fruits of unbelief in God’s promises and Person. I know it is hard to bring oneself to own these sins. Confessing the sins of impatience or even spiritual laziness are easier. Why? They don’t “attack” the character of God. Worry and anxiety do. They say to the Lord, “I am not trusting You in this situation causing me worry and anxiety. Your promises are not enough for me.” And often these two sins – worry and anxiety – lead to sleepless nights or at least periods of sleeplessness throughout the night. Well, there is hope. We can do better. We can sleep well, child of God. Oh, we will never be free from the temptation to commit the sins of worry and anxiety, but we can progressively win the spiritual battles against them. Let’s consider a couple of ways to do so.

First, deal harshly with yourself and these sins. Don’t give yourself a pass. Don’t say, “My personality is prone to worry and anxiety.” Or don’t justify these sins because your circumstances are hard and feel overwhelming. And never allow these sins to control you, but for that to occur, the next application is critical. Learn to do this, and we will overcome worry and anxiety consistently. However, failure to develop this practice in our lives will ensure worry, anxiety and sleepless nights are permanent “guests” in our hearts and lives.

To overcome the sins of worry and anxiety, you must discipline yourself to talk truth to yourself, not listen to the circumstances and situations feeding your sins of worry and anxiety. Remember, the person who you converse with in life is yourself, not another human being. It is estimated over 10,000 thoughts a day go through a person and most of those are either listening or talking to ourselves. And the way to “talk down” worry and anxiety is modeled by David in Psalm 42. Twice in the Psalm, we hear David talking to himself – Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation (Psalm 42:5, 11). Pay attention to what he is doing. First, he is telling himself how irrational it is to be fearful, fretting, worrying, and riddled with anxiety. He is reasoning with himself and so must we when worry and anxiety are seeking to control us. The next thing we see David doing is commanding himself – hope in God. He is saying to himself, “David, stop sinning and start obeying. Get your eyes off yourself, your circumstances, and put them on your God who is good, faithful, and will never fail you.” And friends, this is the only way to avoid sleepless nights caused by worry and anxiety – get your eyes off you and put them on our unchanging God who is not only with you in what is causing you worry and anxiety, but creating those circumstances so you will learn to overcome them by looking more to Him than yourself. Think about this the next time sleep evades you. It won’t be long before you will be sound asleep enjoying the gift of sleep under the watchful care of the God who never sleeps.

PRAYER: “Father, thank You for Your gift of sleep and nighttime protection.”

QUOTE: “Don’t let the cares of life keep you from resting in Him Who is in charge of our lives.”