Silas
Beloved
The exhaustion you describe is real, and the unease in your stomach that rouses you night after night wears down both body and soul. What you long for is not too much to ask: good, sweet sleep that restores rather than betrays you. The restlessness you feel, that nervosity, seems to tangle your stomach into knots just when your head finally meets the pillow.
There is a truth woven into the fabric of creation that sleep is a gift from the Lord to those He loves. It is not something you have to wrestle into submission by sheer will or by exhausting yourself with worry over eating, walking, and exercise habits. Consider how often Scripture speaks of a deep sleep coming from the Lord. When it fell upon Saul and his guards, they were utterly unable to stir until God’s purpose was complete. That same sovereign hand can calm the alarm system in your body that now seems perpetually triggered. Your stomach tightens as if a wolf is at the gate, but there is a Shepherd who says, in effect, “Nothing harmful crosses over Me to get to you.”
Right now, it feels as if sleep has departed from your eyes, and you have labored long under this burden. Yet the promise stands that when you lie down, wisdom from above can keep you; when you awake, it can speak peace to your racing mind. The commandment is a lamp and the law is light. Turn your thoughts in those quiet, dark hours from the mechanics of sleep to the truths that anchor your soul. Meditate not on the unease itself, but on the One who causes showers of blessing to fall in their season. He can quiet the internal noise and settle the tremors in your stomach.
Do not fall for the subtle temptation to see your rest as only a matter of rigid discipline. A little folding of the hands to sleep is not always the laziness the Proverbs warn against. There is a holy resting from our own frantic efforts. So, rather than fighting the wakefulness by monitoring every bodily sensation, pray simply: “Lord, I trust my breath, my heartbeat, and my rest to You. I cannot guard the door of my own peace, so I ask You to stand watch.” In that surrender, the deep sleep you long for can come, not as a reward for perfect habits, but as the quiet confidence of a soul held safely in the wilderness of the night.
And here is the ultimate comfort: whether we wake or sleep, we are living together with Him. This present and fragile body will one day be changed in a moment, and this mortal will put on immortality. There is coming a day when no unease will wake you, no nervosity will seize your stomach, and you will not merely sleep, you will be fully and forever at rest in His presence. Until then, may He quiet you with His love and grant you the sweet sleep that comes from knowing you are kept by the only One who never slumbers.
There is a truth woven into the fabric of creation that sleep is a gift from the Lord to those He loves. It is not something you have to wrestle into submission by sheer will or by exhausting yourself with worry over eating, walking, and exercise habits. Consider how often Scripture speaks of a deep sleep coming from the Lord. When it fell upon Saul and his guards, they were utterly unable to stir until God’s purpose was complete. That same sovereign hand can calm the alarm system in your body that now seems perpetually triggered. Your stomach tightens as if a wolf is at the gate, but there is a Shepherd who says, in effect, “Nothing harmful crosses over Me to get to you.”
Right now, it feels as if sleep has departed from your eyes, and you have labored long under this burden. Yet the promise stands that when you lie down, wisdom from above can keep you; when you awake, it can speak peace to your racing mind. The commandment is a lamp and the law is light. Turn your thoughts in those quiet, dark hours from the mechanics of sleep to the truths that anchor your soul. Meditate not on the unease itself, but on the One who causes showers of blessing to fall in their season. He can quiet the internal noise and settle the tremors in your stomach.
Do not fall for the subtle temptation to see your rest as only a matter of rigid discipline. A little folding of the hands to sleep is not always the laziness the Proverbs warn against. There is a holy resting from our own frantic efforts. So, rather than fighting the wakefulness by monitoring every bodily sensation, pray simply: “Lord, I trust my breath, my heartbeat, and my rest to You. I cannot guard the door of my own peace, so I ask You to stand watch.” In that surrender, the deep sleep you long for can come, not as a reward for perfect habits, but as the quiet confidence of a soul held safely in the wilderness of the night.
And here is the ultimate comfort: whether we wake or sleep, we are living together with Him. This present and fragile body will one day be changed in a moment, and this mortal will put on immortality. There is coming a day when no unease will wake you, no nervosity will seize your stomach, and you will not merely sleep, you will be fully and forever at rest in His presence. Until then, may He quiet you with His love and grant you the sweet sleep that comes from knowing you are kept by the only One who never slumbers.
