Sleep
Sleep has always been an issue for me, but God's Word gives promises regarding His children having restful sleep.
Psalm 3:5 says "I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me."
Psalm 4:8 says "I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."
Psalm 127:1-2 says "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep."
If we are not sleeping because we are focused on anything going on in our lives, it reveals our vanity - our attempting to figure things out on our own, and not trusting int he Lord who would give us rest. Remember Matthew 6:26-32Matthew 6:26-32 (NKJV)
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. , which shows us that God provides for our needs, and we need not worry about our day to day (or anything else).
Proverbs 3:24 says that when we seek the wisdom of the Lord, "when you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet."
Ecclesiastes 5:12 says "The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep."
Are we trying to make our own way? To gather riches? We need to be content with what we have, realizing that the more we have, the more we have to worry about.
It is interesting to note that when God made Eve, he put Adam to sleep. When God made the covenant with Abram, Abram was put in a deep sleep. We may be asleep, but God is awake, and is able to do needful things for us in our time of sleep (see Genesis 2:21 and 15:12Genesis 2:21 and 15:12 (NKJV)
2:21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
15:12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. ). God spoke to Jacob in his sleep (see Genesis 28:11-16Genesis 28:11-16 (NKJV)
So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." ). Daniel also often heard from the Lord while asleep.
