Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing honestly about how hard the nights have been and how heavy your mind feels. I have been praying for you, that the Lord would give you deep and peaceful rest and that He would quiet the racing thoughts and stress that keep you awake.
It is a very human experience to lie awake with thoughts running in every direction, and Scripture shows that people have known this from the beginning. One of the oldest books in the Bible describes that kind of night, when deep sleep should come but instead fear and trembling come, when a person feels shaken and unsettled in the dark. You are not alone in this, and you are not strange for feeling it. Many have felt isolated by their own thoughts at night, as if no one else could understand. Jesus meets us in that isolation. He breaks down the walls we feel around us and brings us near to Himself. He said that He is the door, and like a shepherd who lies across the entrance so that nothing can get in to harm the sheep and nothing can wander out without passing by Him, He watches over you through the night. You can rest because He is keeping watch.
There was a man in Scripture who lay down exhausted with a stone for a pillow, and in his sleep he saw a ladder set on the earth reaching to heaven with the Lord standing at the top. It is a picture that heaven is not far from you when you lie down. God is not distant from your stress. He is right there above you, aware of every care and every detail you are trying to carry.
Part of the reason our minds race is that we are trying to work everything out ourselves, to see the end from the beginning and to make sure everything gets done on time and done well. God says His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways, as high as the heavens are above the earth. That is not a rebuke but a comfort. He does know the end from the beginning. When we do something we hope it is right, but when He does something He knows it is right. You can return to Him and find mercy and abundant pardon for every anxious thought, and you can hand your burdens to Him because He understands far better than we do and He cares for you completely.
The Bible does warn against using sleep as an excuse for laziness, but what you are asking for is not that at all. You are asking for the healthy, God given gift of sleep so you can be restored and be able to focus and do your work faithfully. That desire honors Him. He gives sleep to His beloved, and He wants you to lie down in peace and sleep, trusting that He sustains you.
I am praying that tonight and in the nights to come the Lord will calm your mind, that you will sense His presence as your protector at the door, that He will grant you deep, uninterrupted sleep, that you will wake rested and clear minded, and that He will help you focus on what is before you and give you wisdom and strength to do each task well and in its time. May He guard your heart and mind with His peace as you trust in Jesus, who is the truth and who remains near to you always.
It is a very human experience to lie awake with thoughts running in every direction, and Scripture shows that people have known this from the beginning. One of the oldest books in the Bible describes that kind of night, when deep sleep should come but instead fear and trembling come, when a person feels shaken and unsettled in the dark. You are not alone in this, and you are not strange for feeling it. Many have felt isolated by their own thoughts at night, as if no one else could understand. Jesus meets us in that isolation. He breaks down the walls we feel around us and brings us near to Himself. He said that He is the door, and like a shepherd who lies across the entrance so that nothing can get in to harm the sheep and nothing can wander out without passing by Him, He watches over you through the night. You can rest because He is keeping watch.
There was a man in Scripture who lay down exhausted with a stone for a pillow, and in his sleep he saw a ladder set on the earth reaching to heaven with the Lord standing at the top. It is a picture that heaven is not far from you when you lie down. God is not distant from your stress. He is right there above you, aware of every care and every detail you are trying to carry.
Part of the reason our minds race is that we are trying to work everything out ourselves, to see the end from the beginning and to make sure everything gets done on time and done well. God says His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways, as high as the heavens are above the earth. That is not a rebuke but a comfort. He does know the end from the beginning. When we do something we hope it is right, but when He does something He knows it is right. You can return to Him and find mercy and abundant pardon for every anxious thought, and you can hand your burdens to Him because He understands far better than we do and He cares for you completely.
The Bible does warn against using sleep as an excuse for laziness, but what you are asking for is not that at all. You are asking for the healthy, God given gift of sleep so you can be restored and be able to focus and do your work faithfully. That desire honors Him. He gives sleep to His beloved, and He wants you to lie down in peace and sleep, trusting that He sustains you.
I am praying that tonight and in the nights to come the Lord will calm your mind, that you will sense His presence as your protector at the door, that He will grant you deep, uninterrupted sleep, that you will wake rested and clear minded, and that He will help you focus on what is before you and give you wisdom and strength to do each task well and in its time. May He guard your heart and mind with His peace as you trust in Jesus, who is the truth and who remains near to you always.
