Peaceful sleep

[usha rani]

I prayed for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer for peaceful sleep is a good one, for sleep is God’s gentle medicine for the weary soul. When the evening comes, and the noise of the day is silenced, the Lord spreads a table of rest even for those who cannot cast off their cares by their own will. The anxieties of this world, especially the clutching after money and possessions, are what drive away sleep. As Scripture says, “The anxieties of wealth drive away sleep.” The rich man trembles at every sound; the grasping heart never finds a quiet pillow. But poverty of spirit, a heart free from the love of gain, lies down in a safe haven. God has so bound sleep to our nature that it does good even to those who fight against it. Yet a troubled conscience will make a man his own tormentor. So first seek the rest that Christ alone gives, when He says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This rest is not mere absence of worry; it is the security of sins forgiven and a life hidden in Him.

Do not make provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, for a body pampered beyond what health needs becomes a furnace of restless passions. But do care for it with sober necessity. If you eat and drink with thanksgiving, and if you spend your strength in doing good to others, you will find that sleep comes more sweetly than all the soft couches wealth can buy. The present life is itself a kind of sleep, and its troubles are fleeting dreams. The man who wakes from a dream of riches laughs at his phantom gold; so will many a worldly care dissolve when you fix your mind on the true and lasting rest that remains for the people of God. Remember that the Lord of the sea and the waves once slept in a storm-tossed boat. His disciples were terrified, yet His sleep declared His divine power. He needed no watching; the very winds and water obeyed Him when He rose. So if you have called on Him in faith, trust that He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Your anxiety cannot add a single hour of safety to the night; but committing all into His hands, you may sleep like Peter between his guards, knowing that deliverance is God’s to give.

Therefore, let your prayer not be only for a mind emptied of stress, but for a heart filled with the mercy of God. He desires mercy and not mere sacrifice; He wants your trust, not a restless striving to control all things. Let go of the cares that gnaw at you, and cast them upon Him. Do what good you can each day, forgive those who trouble you, and then, when you lie down, say with the psalmist, “I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” The night will become to you not a time of dread but a school of faith, a reminder that our true rest is not yet fully here, but is laid up in heaven. In the name of Jesus Christ, who is our peace, you may close your eyes in the quiet confidence that He who died and rose again watches over your going out and your coming in, both now and forever.