Sleepless Nights

Another matter keeping sleep at bay was my future

Psalm 13:1-6

Reference: How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? (Psalm 13:2 NIV)

Explore: The other night I couldn’t sleep. I was so tired, but I just couldn’t turn my brain off.

One of the things swirling around my head was a conversation I had been a part of earlier that day. I couldn’t stop analysing each thing I’d said, how others had responded, and what I could have done differently.

Another matter keeping sleep at bay was my future. Where was I heading and what were the best choices for me as a mother, employee, friend, but most of all a disciple?

I knew that none of these thought processes could change the past and I wasn’t even sure how much they would change the future, but they kept whirling around and around in my head. As the night wore on, I kept counting the diminishing hours I had left, until I had to get up for work. As my sleeping hours dwindled away it just gave me something else to stress about!

I finally drifted off to sleep only to wake up, what seemed like minutes later, with my alarm going off.

Application: I don’t think I’m the only person who has had this experience. In fact, I know I’m not. I’ve spoken to friends and colleagues who have gone through the same thing and it seems even the Psalmist did too.

Stress is something we all experience, but we all have a choice in how to deal with it. We can stay focused upon it and allow it to saturate every conversation and every waking thought. Or we can take a leaf out of the psalmist’s book and acknowledge it, but not allow it to change everything in our lives.

At the start of this psalm, the writer acknowledges his worries. But they do not stay there. At the end, the psalmist says, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me. (Psalm 13:5, 6 NIV)

This doesn’t mean that everything is perfect, but it means that their faith is not lost in the troubled times. When stress, disaster and grief come into our lives, it seems easy to throw everything away. However, the psalmist knows that no matter what is going on we mustn’t stop praising God and trusting in Him. In fact, this is the time when we need Him most.

Prayer: Lord, I know that I’ll endure more sleepless nights, but I know that You are always there for me. May I not forget You in my troubles, but turn to You for strength. Amen.

What troubles do you hold? How can you worship God through the worry?

challenges, future, praise, Psalms, sleep, stress, trouble, worry, worship