Psalm 3:5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

This is a very simple verse, but it says something rather profound. Though scientists are still not sure why, sleep is essential to all animals, but many things can interfere. One of the biggest of those, in humans at any rate, is anxiety. If we are worried about what might happen to us while we sleep, we generally don’t sleep very well. Genuine faith says, “God is still God even if something does happen to me.” That’s the basis of the famous little prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” That was from back when all sorts of diseases weren’t as well controlled as they are today, so dying was a more immediate possibility. David, who wrote this psalm, had an immediate military threat against his life, so the faith expressed is all the stronger. We get insomnia for far lesser reasons! Trusting God is the best possible “sleep aid.”

I’ve certainly had my times of lying awake because I couldn’t “shut my brain off.” Sometimes that hasn’t been anxiety so much as thinking and planning for things, but there too, the answer is releasing things to God. He knows what I need and He already has the ideal plan for supplying it, so my lying awake plotting it out is a waste of my physical and emotional energy. We are in the middle of further training in this very issue. God has already demonstrated His love and omnipotence by supplying the funds for us to purchase the land next door, and He’s going to supply not only the funds but the personnel and the wisdom necessary to build and operate the elder-care facility He is directing us to have. I’m not to be lazy or irresponsible, but I’m also not to think or feel I’ve got to do it in my own wisdom and strength. That’s clearly impossible, so I’ve got to release it to Him and rejoice as He carries us along. Sleep is a very real issue, and it’s a good barometer of my “faith pressure.” He has already told me to rest, relax, and rejoice, so this is further training in doing that!

Father, thank You indeed for Your perfect plan. Thank You for all that is going on around us. Yesterday was a full day, but You carried us through it and You did some good things. Today also has a lot going on. May all of Your plans for each person involved in this church be fulfilled in every detail, blessing in many ways and destroying the works of the devil, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!