I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
— Psalm 3: 5
In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.
— Psalm 4: 8
David, the psalmist, lived an amazing life. As a boy he was a shepherd, living with the flocks he watched over. Fighting off predators, finding the lost, helping the lame. In a very real sense, he foreshadows the work of our Savior, Jesus. But David was not Jesus. He was not perfect.
During his life, David killed the champion of Israel’s enemy the Philistines. Goliath fell victim to a small pebble launched from a sling. I doubt he even had time to flinch. David became a leader of Saul’s army and eventually, after being sentenced to death by Saul, David had his own army. During his exile, he raided and pillaged villages. After becoming king of Israel, David ruled an entire country, but he still had many enemies.
One of the great tragedies of David’s life was his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. This led to a soap opera of tragedy in his own family culminating in his son, Absalom, attempting to steal the kingdom from his father and ending up dead.
During these trials, David writes about how he is able to sleep because of his trust in the Lord.
This is not a small thing. If we do not know the Lord, we are confronted by our fears at the end of the day. We might be able to bluster our way through the daylight hours with our wits and bravado, but at night, when we close our eyes, we are alone with our thoughts. Without God, that is a very lonely place.
Application: Thank God for sustenance and safety when you close your eyes at night. You will sleep better.
Food for Thought: How does the Lord make us dwell in safety?
There are many ways. For me, the fact that even death does not separate me from the Lord or loved ones in the Lord, means I am able to sleep in peace. He has defeated my enemies of sin, death and Satan. That is as safe as it gets in this world.
Thank you, Rich. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts! It is wonderful that we are able to turn to the Creator of the universe and have His personal assurance that He loves us!
I don’t know how this works with guilt of past sins knowing Jesus paid for each one of my sins with his blood. He died for me. I have guilt even though I try to remind myself that He paid in full for all of them or none of them. I just need to believe that to my core. It doesn’t get rid of my guilt for my past but with his grace I need to be appreciative of his love. How great is his love that He died for me to save me, a wretched creature full of sin. Out of love even before I loved or knew Him.