A Good Night’s Sleep
May 6, 2018
For most of my life, a good night’s sleep has been elusive. Trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. I have checked off most of the good bedtime habits that the sleep experts suggest – daily exercise, darker room, white noise, good pillow, no electronics one hour before bed, relaxing activities, glass of warm milk, etc. Complaining to my doctor resulted in prescriptions for pills and an inconclusive sleep study. The pills worked for a while and then I had to get higher and higher doses to get the same effect. Lack of sleep is so frustrating!
None of the man-made answers worked consistently. They did not address my racing mind or my fears that kept me from relaxing enough to sleep. I knew my worrying and fretting was not producing anything productive in my life. It was, in fact, stealing my life from me. When I got more serious about my study of the Bible, I discovered these verses:
In peace, I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust.
Psalm 4:8 (AMP)
It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil - for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.
Psalm 127:2 (AMP) (*Vain essentially means empty or with no purpose.)
When you lie down, you shall not be afraid; yes, you will lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet.
Proverbs 3:24 (AMP)
All of these verses told me that trusting in the Lord was the way to a good night’s sleep. Reminding me that God is watching over me and He never falls asleep on the job (Psalm 121). If God is awake, I don’t need to be.
The way to stop a racing mind is to control it. Now, as soon as I realize I have a racing mind that is preventing me from falling asleep, I get up and read the Bible. I do not read anything else, just the Bible. If I get distracted, I bring myself back to the passage I am reading. The psalms and the Gospels are particularly comforting and assuring. Reading the Bible out loud seems to help even more. I read until I am sleepy, then I go back to bed. If my mind starts racing again, I get back up and read some more.
God’s Word works on my mind in a positive way. Many times my reading reminds me to cast my cares on the Lord (1 Peter 5:7). I pray as my reading prompts me, and then I can sleep. Praise God! He has made a simple way for us to get a good night’s sleep!
