Fighting Insomnia

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

Psalms 4:8 NRSV

The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Insomnia is therefore an even my, yet it is never the root cause of restlessness. There are countless reasons why people do not get adequate amounts of sleep/rest, but insomnia is always the result. Sleep is a gift from God and anything that tries to rob us of God’s gifts is from the enemy. Many children are afraid of the dark so they may have difficultly sleeping. For others sleeping serves as the ultimate form of vulnerability; you cannot defend yourself while you sleep. And for others sleeping has never been easy Some have grown up in chaotic households and sleep was fleeting. Whatever your relationship is with sleep, God desires for you to do it peacefully.

David prays this psalm in a time of trouble but his trust is in God to keep him safe from his enemies, even while he is unaware. This is the trust God is worthy of and desires for us to put in Him. The same He protected David thousands of years ago is the same way He can and will protect you. We cannot outrun our past and we will never be able to catch up with the future. This produces anxiety and anxiety. The parts of our lives we cannot control are God’s to take care of. God. an manage us better than we can. This is why He is worthy of our trust; He alone, and not we ourselves, makes us live in safety.

Lastly, God wants us to sleep safely. There is danger all around us. Anything can happen at any time. But God desires safety for us while we sleep. The word for safety in Hebrew can be translated as “carelessly.” Sleeping is the only endeavor we are encouraged to do carelessly. This implies we have relinquished the worries of the day, the unfinished tasks, we have turned our faces from the past we cannot change and the future we cannot control, and we have given it all over to God. Once we do this we can sleep carelessly. We sleep in safety knowing God is awake and He never gets tired and He has you in His hands. Tonight I pray you sleep through the night carelessly, knowing that you and whatever “it” is has been taken care of.

Until next time, continue to stay guided by grace,

Tra