Adapted from September 2014

 

I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O Lord,
make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8

 

Do you ever feel like this cat while you’re trying to fall asleep? It’s pretty hard to be a cat, trying to get a nap out of doors. Constantly on guard, worrying about things, wondering what might be happening in the world around him.

Many of us are in that spot now-a-days, unable to really rest. But most of us don’t have to sleep outside like a cat. Most of us, living as we do, have a safe place to sleep—in a warm bed in a comfortable home.

What would it take to have a better rest? What would it take to be more at peace?

Mark Buchanan, in his book The Rest of God, wrote a good description of what ideal sleep should be like. He wrote that sleep is “…a relinquishment. It is a self-abandonment: of control, of power, of consciousness, of identity. We direct nothing in our sleep. We master nothing. We lose ourselves and are carried…” away like children.

“ In sleep we become infants again: utterly vulnerable, completely defenceless, totally dependent. Out of control….we give ourselves, regardless of our unfinished business, into God’s care. We sleep simply because we believe God will look after us.”

That’s how God calls us to rest and to live our lives, not in our sleep life alone, but during our waking hours as well. He would like us to let go of control and trust him to take care of things. Can you do that during these difficult times?

Can you trust God?

Remember what you have learned. God is with you, and always will be. He’s always good and always loving. He knows all that is and all that will be. He’s in control.

As you sleep, and as you wake too, you can rest in the knowledge that God is keeping watch. Buchanan encourages us to lose ourselves and allow ourselves to be carried away like a child in God’s arms. At peace.

marja