Finding Rest in Sleeplessness

Psalm 119:145–152 (NIV),

¹⁴⁵ I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord, and I will obey your decrees. 

¹⁴⁶ I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes. 

¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. 

¹⁴⁸ My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.

¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice in accordance with your love; 

      preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws. 

¹⁵⁰ Those who devise wicked schemes are near, 

       but they are far from your law. 

¹⁵¹ Yet you are near, Lord, and all your commands are true. 

¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your statutes 

      that you established them to last forever.

Father, I am grateful that not every day is filled with the intensity of this prayer.  Thankfully You permits days of peace and serenity.  But there are times when the breaking of the heart results in an inward cry that demands Your attention.  Like the psalmist I try to negotiate Your response.  Like the psalmist I toss and turn through the night.  Sleeplessness is common when trouble hits.  To be honest Father, I fail to use the sleepless nights to pray and rest on Your promises.  Lord, may my heart remember that this is the best time to run to Your grace.

Father, Your love and Your laws are friends.  They work together for my benefit.  Many times it is easy to call upon You for the outpouring of Your love, but my mind is challenged today to remember that Your love never comes to me devoid of truth. I should not expect it.  I should not expect that You will overlook Your holiness and Your righteousness, to meet my needs.   But Father because my enemies are far from Your holiness, even though they are near in time and space, Your proximity exceeds theirs.  Wow!  What an amazing truth.  No one is closer me that You are.

Your righteousness is from old and it will be forever.  Nothing exceeds it in time and eternity.  Your Word outlasts my anxieties and my enemies.  I run to You.  You are my hope.