Sleep. Precious, precious sleep.
I can’t remember the last time I had a good night’s sleep or a night of sleep where I didn’t wake up to either a crying baby or a mind running wild. Eight hours of sleep sounds like a dream.
Chances are you’re in the same camp as me. Maybe you have a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep, or quieting your thoughts. Maybe you also have children who wake up throughout the night. Or maybe you live in an apartment complex with paper-thin walls and noisy neighbors. Google “how to get a good night’s sleep,” and you’ll find more than a billion results.
The tips seem relatively simple:
Stick to a sleep schedule.
Avoid naps.
Turn off all screens.
Exercise during the day.
Consider a new mattress or pillow.
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
I’ve tried these suggestions, but I still fail to get quality sleep. Can you relate?
Recently I heard a sermon from Pastor Matt Chandler in which he discussed his sleep troubles. He said he goes to bed at 9:30 p.m. but sometimes struggles with racing thoughts. Chandler said he imagines himself laying his worries at Jesus’ feet:
“I will just say in my prayers, ‘I’ve got to sleep. You don’t ever sleep. You take this and run with it while I get some rest. I’ll be right back in the morning to do whatever it is You want me to do…’”
Sometimes, Chandler ends up getting out of bed, praying, and reading until 2 in the morning. It happens. But I love his approach, to go straight to the Lord and to ask for sleep. We’re human, and our sleep issues are part of that. God knows this, and He’s always there to provide us with rest—even when physical rest alludes us.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
A couple of days after watching this sermon, I listened to a podcast interview with Jennie Allen. Allen is an author and speaker who’s passionate about discipleship. Her new book, Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts, details the 18 months she spent wrestling with anxiety, doubt, and sleeplessness. “Drawing on biblical teaching and neuroscience, she shows how to fight the enemies of the mind with the truth of God,” the book description states.
Allen experienced trouble sleeping and had questions about her faith in the midst of running a successful ministry, teaching the Bible, and speaking about Christ around the country. Yes, even faithful, godly men and women like Chandler and Allen can have sleepless nights.
“Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does. ”
All this got me wondering why? Why do we deal with this? Why can’t we simply get some quality sleep?
The short answer: We’re human. We’re sinners. We live in a broken world.
The long answer: We as Christians are prone to attacks from the enemy, and Satan is a cunning guy. He wants to disable us and render us useless. Leaving us worn out, weary, and exhausted is a pretty easy way to do that, don’t you think? When we’re tired, we’re less focused. We’re not alert or on-guard. We’re run-down and weak.
But we don’t have to be.
We live in a fallen world, except we have the hope of Christ. We have the Savior, the light of the world, who offers us a better way. We have to get up and walk in it. He saves us by faith through grace. We have to trust Him.
I think of the third sign Jesus performs, detailed in John 5:
“After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”
“Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat,and started to walk.”
The disabled man is healed not by the pool but by his faith in Jesus. God tells him to “get up and walk,” and I believe that’s a call for all of us. We can remain run-down when we’re tired, or we can adopt an attitude of faith. We can get up and walk.
That’s super convicting for me.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I got a good night’s rest. Even before our son was before, during the latter half of pregnancy, I was constantly waking up to pee or because I felt uncomfortable. Now I’m lying awake at bedtime with my mind on overdrive, or I’m waking up because I’m anxious or because my baby is crying. The cycle is enough to make someone feel a little crazy.
As I’ve taken this sleep struggle to God, I’ve started to realize it’s often a spiritual attack. I can be crabby, angry, and lethargic, or I can open the Word every day, pray to God, and continue to walk by faith. This is something I’m still processing, and I think I’ll continue to throughout my life.
God wants us to rest in Him.
“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Paul, one of God’s greatest missionaries and disciples, had a thorn in his flesh that God never removed. We don’t know exactly what that thorn was, but we do know that Paul trusted in the Lord in the midst of his weakness. For me, sleeplessness is definitely a weakness. I can’t get through it without God. I just can’t.
My She Reads Truth bible puts it this way:
“Our insufficiency helps us press into Christ’s sufficiency… Anything that causes us to depend on Christ is a good thing. When we lean on Him, we will always, always, always find Him strong enough to hold us up.”
Let us pray:
Father, help me put on the full armor of God. Help me press into Your sufficiency in the midst of my exhaustion and insufficiency. Give me rest. Refresh my soul. Help me to walk in Your way. Thank you for Your truth, Your love, and Your care. Make me more like You.
In Your holy name, I pray.
Amen.