How are you sleeping these days? Ever troubled by insomnia? Anyone feel like they are working hard all day then laying awake worrying half the night? The bed looks so inviting. You climb in and fall asleep only to find yourself awake a couple of hours later, but it seems like you just shut your eyes. If you can’t immediately roll over and go back to sleep, for whatever reason, you begin to realize its going to be another long night.
The parade begins and a thousand different things start their march before your wakeful eyes.
What can be done? I recently heard about one guy who said, “When I can’t sleep, I just get up and sit in a chair until I bore myself to death.” Another reaches for an Ambien or some other kind of sleeping pill. Yet another tries to fill the wakefulness with some kind of late night TV or surfing the internet.
Having experienced a multitude of these kinds of nights over the years, I have learned a few things about how these wakeful hours can be more productively spent. Free from distractions of the day, it can be a perfect time for some reflective God-centered thought.
God is awake in the still of the night and is ready to hear from us. The time that I have spent during those wakeful times has proven to be so valuable. Think on God! Use this time to pray or maybe praise him with a favorite song or hymn. It has always been an amazing opportunity to get close to the Father. The quiet stillness seems to allow for a deeper focus and more penetrating praise.
David seemed to understand this when he said, “I remember you and meditate on you during the night watches.” And of Jesus we read, “he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12).
When I can’t sleep, it is amazing how giving this time to the Lord in prayer and praise will settle my my mind and before I know it, I am back to sleeping peacefully.
I had to laugh when I read this. I am sitting here reading your post and it is 1 AM. This is not really unusual accept for the time. I usually wake in the middle of the night. It is like someone giving me a nudge to get up. For the longest time I would just turn the TV on until I would fall back to sleep. Then I began to pray. A people from around the world will come to mind with specific needs. Often I will email the person and tell them I am praying for such and such. They will write back and ask how I knew they had such a need or facing such a problem.
One night during the Viet Nam War period I woke up with tears rolling down my face. I could see children screaming for someone to save them. I could here the mortars and smell the explosives. I prayed until peace came, then I went back to sleep. A few days later I saw a picture in a newspaper of the same children and the story how a marine unit saved them from certain death.
This happens all the time. Almost every night I gladly get up and pray. In the still of the night it is just me in God. The distractions are gone. I look forward to communicating with Him. Peaceful I go back to sleep and wake up refreshed.
Ken
millionmilejourney.com
By the way, we gave away our TV some time ago. Have you ever gone to visit someone and the TV is blaring? You can’t pray either.