Sweet Sleep

“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.” (Ps 4:8 AV)

I noticed that the statement of David above is both a statement of fact and a vow to himself.  The Holy Spirit also reminded me of another significant truth.  Represented by the word ‘only’, the truth of the matter is, God is the only stable and unchanging force in my life.  People come and go.  Health fails.  Circumstances change.  God always remains the same.  We are anxious and sleep evades us because our dependence relies on unstable things.  Our security rests on shifting sands.  We can continue to fight like a shadow boxer; trying to hit a knockout punch on a target that comes and goes.  Or, we can rest in God who never leaves nor forsakes.  If one wants a biblical example, just look no further than the human author of the words above.  For more than a decade, David ran from one place to another.  He was evading the envy of his father-in-law.  David tried to find stability among his own tribe and people.  That didn’t work out so well.  The only friend he could find was the king of the Philistines.  Yet his lords threw David under the bus.  It got so bad that just before he took the throne, the men who had served him turned their backs on him.  It didn’t stop there.  During his forty years on the throne, there were ups and downs.  It took seven years before the entire nation would accept him.  Those serving under him would often go rogue.  David’s world was a bit chaotic.  This is why he makes the promise above.  He promises himself, based on the truth that God is the only stable influence in his life, that he will lay down in peace of soul and sleep.

Life is changing and unpredictable.  It is like riding a rollercoaster for the first time while blindfolded.  Just when you get used to a new normal, things change.  Some of us enjoy the challenge.  Most of us do not.  Especially when we get older, we want our lives to be more stable and predictable.  We can wish for that all we want.  But it will never be that way.  God does not promise a predictable life of unchanging serenity.  We would never mature.  Without changing circumstances, we would remain the same.  Change forces us to grow.  It forces us to trust the LORD more than we have in the past.  Change forces us to adapt from the person that we are to the person God wants us to be.  David could not remain the person he was and successfully lead God’s people.  He has to accept change as from the hand of God, and because it was, life would change, too.

Sleep comes to those who have learned to lean on the only influence that does not change.  GOD!  God has been and always will be.  He loves us with an everlasting love.  He knows who and what we are.  He knows what we can face.  He knows what we need.  He knows what He must cause or allow.  The key to peace and sleep is how deeply we believe the second part of the verse.  David can say that he will lay down and sleep all he wants.  He can promise it as such to his soul and mind.  But unless he deeply believes that God and God alone makes him dwell in safety, sleep and peace will not come.  If we want those sleepless nights to cease, then we have to surrender to the sovereign hand of God.