Not sleeping?

Usually I fall asleep quickly and for the night, but last night didn’t. I prayed about the things nagging me, but didn’t “let go and let God” to well after midnight. While most of my friends envy my normal sleeping pattern, they complain of not being able to sleep or stay asleep most of the time. After not sleeping well, I’m not surprised that Piper’s devotions for today speak of our God who never sleeps!

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. (Psalm 121:2–3)
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 121:5–8)

Before reading about this, I sang praise songs. The one that came first in my collection starts out, “Oh to be like Thee…” and the rest of it describes many of those ways that often seem impossible. Being like Jesus is far different from all human thinking and action. I thought of how difficult it seems and how much I need the Holy Spirit to do anything or even think like Jesus. But I also need Him to sleep well.

After singing, Piper’s devotional reminded me that I am not responsible to transform my life. He says: “We are prone to think of ourselves as workers in God’s life. But the Bible wants us first to be amazed that God is a worker in our lives.” He quoted these promises:

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:4)

He changes me by letting me see Him, by speaking to me and showing me Himself and it is by the vision of Him and His Word…

By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:4)

Awake or asleep, I cannot be like Jesus by my own efforts. As these verses say, He is my keeper. He promises the change and because He does, I can do what He asks…

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

 God’s commitment to complete the good work He has begun in me, even in the entire creation, can be painful at times, but it is for His glory and for more Christlikeness in me. Just being reminded of this settles my heart. I cannot do anything — a reality heightened by having that helpless feeling that comes from lack of sleep. But He never sleeps and even as I toss and turn, He is working out the perfections of His plan in the persistence of His heart.

I know that the promises God makes are primarily about changing me. I don’t change Him when I pray, even though prayer is part of that change, of making me more like Jesus. Yet it is by His promises, not by my prayers — awake or asleep. It is because He has granted me His nature, I am able to escape the corruption of sin, asleep or awake.

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

PRAY: Jesus, I am so amazed how the gospel makes a difference in how I think about what You say. Last night I remembered the promise You make in giving Your beloved sleep, but as my readings remind me, I don’t claim Your promises — they claim me. You are not awake to jump into actions at my requests; I am awake to trust Your will for my life. I cannot “name and claim” anything, only to have a greater passion for your glory, only to be more like Jesus instead of being more like my old self. I want to “stand on your promises” whether You give me sleep or sleeplessness. I want to be like You and trust You to keep working in my life. You are the Potter and I am clay in Your hands — always, for You never leave me to go take a nap.               

Devotions are life-changing

Joshua 1; Psalms 120–122; Isaiah 61; Matthew 9

When I became a Christian, my sister told me to read the Bible until a truth stopped me, then write it down. Now, most of that writing is in digital form but I have a stack of journals filled with the results of that excellent advice. Sometimes I get carried away in the writing yet God continues to change my life. Today, I’m noting what ‘stopped’ me in the above daily reading passages.

Joshua 1. Joshua replaced Moses as leader. His name is the Hebrew form of Jesus. Moses represents the law, and Moses just died. Salvation by law-keeping did not work. Now the people needed a Savior. While Joshua was not Jesus, I read this chapter as if it were the Lord telling His Son what He must do as the leader of His people. Jesus was sent as fully man and lived here as ‘the Son of man’ so these words were appropriate. Too long to put here, but I am humbled by the reminder that while here, Jesus as fully man relied on His Father just like I need to rely on the Lord.

“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:5–8)

I am to do the same as both Joshua and Jesus — focus on the will of God and obey it!

Psalms 120-121. The first psalm is a cry for deliverance as the writer is aware of living in land of liars. I feel like that. The news each day contradicts itself. The world seems to be in chaos. “I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!” (Psalm 120:7). As the next psalm says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) The next verses also answer my distress:

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 121:5–8)

I am also to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” (Psalm 122:6) for there is blessing and glory to God in being concerned for peace among His people.

Isaiah 61 is a foretaste of what Christ will do for His people and a description of His love for righteousness. The author says that he greatly rejoices in the Lord because:

“He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:10–11)

Victory is coming. Jesus came — bringing that righteousness that all nations are experiencing. The Christian life does not make the news but that does not mean God’s people are absent or idle. Works of mercy are happening in homes, neighborhoods, hospitals, prisons. Wherever God’s people are, the example of Jesus is also.

Matthew 9. This chapter is about mercy. Mercy is doing for others what they cannot do for themselves. Jesus healed those who were paralyzed and helpless, called to Himself those hated by others, raised the dead, opened blind eyes, loosened mute tongues and sent His disciples out to have the same compassion and draw others into His kingdom.

APPLY: Being a Christian is not about following rules but about being like Jesus. His realm of ministry was a small part of a big world yet what He did changed lives and changed history and the world. Even though it will never make the news, may I be courageously obedient to what He is saying to me today. Focus, trust, pray, be merciful, do/go what and where He asks and rejoice in Him.