Sleep is the gift of God, it steeps the mind in a blessed forgetfulness that no physician on earth can match. "So he giveth his beloved sleep," and that sleep is a sleep of security, a resting under the shadow of the Almighty, where the soul is kept safe from the terrors that walk by night. Let your son be committed into those hands, for the Lord watches over his own even in the hours of darkness. The mental agony, the spirit of psychosis, the turbulence of the inward man are not beyond the reach of the Divine Healer. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations, the least things about Christ, the common mercies, the whispered promises, are full of healing virtue. There is an abundance of healing power in Jesus Christ; the utmost length of human sickness can be reached by this great Physician. His very presence brings not only pardon but restoration, for when the Son of Righteousness arises, healing is in His wings. And what a comfort that forgiveness and healing are placed in happy conjunction, the peace of a cleansed conscience is the sweetest pillow for a weary head.
Every night, before the troubled go to their beds, they feel such consciousness of sin and weakness that they can hardly sleep; yet the Lord bids them slumber, not because they are worthy, but because He is gracious. The power of the Lord is present to heal, especially when His word is teaching the heart. Cast this dear one upon Christ. He healed all that had need of healing, and the costly balm of His atonement has lost none of its power. The change of the life-blood, the renewal of the spirit, the cleansing influence of the Divine Comforter, these are the leaves of that heavenly tree which make the nature other than it was before. O poor doubting heart, have unstaggering confidence in the Divine Healer! The very chief of sinners, when pardon is given, receive at the same time a tender conscience, a willing mind, a yielding spirit. So let it be with this beloved son.
Let us not sleep on as though there were no spiritual battle, sound an alarm in Zion, awaken all to prayer. Yet the sleep that God gives to His beloved is a rest after toil, a shelter from the fray. In the quiet of the night, when the mind is hushed and the body lies still, let him be not as the blacksmith's dog slumbering under the sparks, but as one who rests in the finished work of Jesus, where the curse is lifted and the conscience is still. Prayers ascend for his protection from all harm and evil; the Lord is his keeper. Comfort him with Your presence and peace, for You determine all things to display Your perfections. In the very region of divine power, may he feel its operations, and rise with a sound mind, clad in the freshness that comes only from the healing leaves of the Saviour.