Insomnia is a hard condition to live with. It is often mixed with anxiety, stress, fears, panic disorders, it can be a real nightmare. God intended for our rest to be peaceful, and our nights to be filled with peace. Getting caught up in a cycle of insomnia is a difficult thing to live with. It seems that our society does not have much patience with someone suffering from lack of sleep. The psalmist said that his own heart instructs him in the night seasons.
I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: my heart also instructs me in
the night seasons. Psalm 16:7
This verse is saying that God gives counsel. We know that this counsel comes for God's Word, the Bible. But then the psalmist adds, and my heart also instructs me in the night season. It is a wonderful thing to lay upon your bed, and your heart is agreeing with the Word of God and your will is in agreement with both. But, it is very stressful when you know in your heart what the Bible teaches, yet, you know that you are not living those things which have been taught. There are many people that do whatever it takes to get away from the voice of their own conscience. Our conscience is just like any other voice of reason out there. If we ignore it, this does not make the consequences of our actions go away. God intended for us to rely on his counsel through the day, and for HIS song to take us through the night.
By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me--a prayer to the
God of my life. Psalm 42:8
There have been many times when I faced difficult circumstances, and long nights in which I asked God to send his angel to help me through. Often a spiritual song will begin in my Spirit, and the song will replay over and over again, and HIS peace will cause me to rest. Sometimes we do not have the strength to fight the battle, nor the will to climb the mountain, but, we can rest in HIS presence, knowing that our faith in HIS provision will see us through! Instead of remembering our difficulties, we can remember the LORD'S promises through the night. I have found that if I pray, and ask God to remind me of HIS word that peace soon comes over me and I am sound asleep. And, if by chance I don't go to sleep, what a wonderful productive way to spend the night, in prayer and meditation. It is better than spending it in misery and aggravation and fears.
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Psalm 63:6
When you are having trouble sleeping. Don't try to make yourself sleep. Don't try to stop the worry. Don't try to calm the panic. Instead get up and read your Bible. Memorize a verse or two as you lay upon your bed. Walk back and forth and get some exercise while you are praying. Sit up in your bed, and ask God to send an angel that will help you sing spiritual songs. Turn your dreadful nights, into spiritual nights and it won't be long until the rest of God envelopes you. Even if you don't find yourself getting tired enough to rest, think of the good that you could accomplish!
I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit inquired: Psalm 77:6
