Psalm 4:8 "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety."
Sleep is essential for us to restore our worn down muscles from the day and to recharge our brain. Sleep plays an important role in both your physical and mental health. When we feel secure and at peace, our sleep comes more easily and is more restful. As Psalm 4;8 states, it is God alone who is all sufficient to protect us when all of our own defenses are at rest. "Though I am alone, yet I am not alone, for God is with me; though I have no guards to attend me, the Lord alone is sufficient to protect me; he can do it himself when all other defenses fail." [M. Henry]
"So a good man, having by faith and prayer cast his care upon God, sleeps and rests night and day, and is very easy, leaving it to his God to perform all things for him and prepared to welcome his holy will." [M. Henry]
As a very young girl, my nightly prayer was "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. AMEN" It may sound a little depressing for a 4 or 5year old to say, but it's not. It's was a reassurance that God is in control as I closed my eyes knowing that I had nothing to fear or worry about. I don't recall ever being afraid of monsters under my bed. God gave me 'peace'. This prayer can help bring children sweeter sleep and more confidence every day.
Oh, how I miss the sweet sleep I had in my youth. As I look back in hindsight tho, I can see how I learned patience and endurance even during my sleep times. Whether it was my pink foam curlers or my brace's headgear for my teeth, their uncomfortable times on my head was preparing me for a future I would've never suspected. I wonder if those times made it easier for me to accept my current mask wearing with greater ease.
God alone has made me sleep in safety. I've always felt secure whether I lived at home, in the dorm, in an apartment, in a rented room, in a duplex or in my own home because I've always known God watches over me. Psalm 145:20 "The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy."
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —
