Sleepless In Seeking Christ's Return

“With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa 26:9 AV)

We lose a lot of sleep over many things.  We can stay up late praying for our families, church, missionaries, and country.  We spend sleepless nights because we worry.  We worry about our finances.  We worry about what the world will become.  Will there be another pandemic?  Will the food shortages really come to pass?  How expensive can gas get?  How high will inflation rise?  We worry over the future of our churches.  Will they grow again?  Will we see others come to Christ and the baptismal waters stir?  We worry about health issues.  Either ours or those of our loved ones.  As a first-time homeowner who didn’t know a lot, I was constantly worried our house was going to burn down.  I’ve spent many late nights stressed over the obligations that awaited me when I punched in the next day.  I spent many sleepless nights worrying about getting enough sleep.  There have been nights of no sleep because of a situation the LORD dropped on my lap.  A failing marriage, a lost career, or a wayward child of one of our dear saints would weigh heavy on the mind.  As we age, we spend of few sleepless nights nursing aches and pains.  Or, we worry about how we are going to make ends meet the closer we arrive at retirement.  There are many causes for our nights of limited slumber.  However, Isaiah is disturbed at the lack of righteousness in the world.  He stays up late and rises early to pray for the LORD’s return and His righteousness to reign on the earth.

Being the middle child has its challenges.  We are often loners because siblings pair off and it leaves you without a friend.  The middle child is too young to be the leader but too old to be spoiled.  He does not have the privilege of being the elder, nor the entitlement that comes with being the younger.  He or she is often marginalized.  This poor child is ignored from the top-down and the bottom up.  This challenge is compounded if this child is an obedient child who works for peace in the family.  Can anyone guess who the writer might be referring to?  Growing up in a large family, it was not out of the ordinary to see strife break out into full-blown fist-to-cuffs.  It was not uncommon to see a few siblings conspire against a rule of the house while Dad and Mom were not around.  This happened almost daily.  Several of us might be in the playroom and someone’s imagination would get the better of him or her.  ‘They’ would think up a new activity or way of playing that us perfect middle children knew our parents would not approve of.  For us, this usually meant it has something to do with speed, damage, or otherwise destructive behavior.  The middle child who everyone else ignored would try to warn his or her siblings.  They never listen.  His only recourse was to hope and wish that mom or dad might darken the door.  There was little to nothing that the middle child could do.  He was not important enough to be taken seriously.  So, he quietly and obediently played by himself in the corner while his siblings tore apart the room.  He watched to doorway because he knew the more rambunctious his sibling became, the higher the likelihood dad was coming.  His eye was on the situation because he wanted his siblings to live and play in obedience to dad.

Isaiah spends his nights and morning praying for and wishing for the kingdom of God on earth.  He desires all people everywhere to live in righteousness according to God’s word.  The glory of God is probably his highest motive.  He desires creation to shine forth in righteousness giving testimony to the holiness of God.  But I also cannot help but feel perhaps the man of God saw the consequences of sin and his heart brake for those enslaved to it.  He saw the destruction of Jerusalem and the death of his people.  He saw them carried away into Babylon.  He foresaw the coming millennia wherein Israel would suffer greatly for their lack of faith.  His heart brake that wickedness ruled on earth and the great destructive power it has.  He stayed up nights and rose early that he might seek God’s face and mercy for a wicked and lost world.  Rather than get agitated at the works of the heathen, he prayed for the LORD’s return.  His return is the only solution.  Isaiah did not waste his sleepless nights in anger and self-righteousness.  He spent the waning hours in intercession for all the damage he saw.  May Jesus come quickly!