December 1, Go to Bed

Today’s reading: Psalms 1-5

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” - Psalm 4:8.

There is one sure sign that you trust the Lord and have put all of life’s circumstances in His hands, and that is you are able to sleep. When you have, you do not lie in bed and reflect on all your problems, frantically trying to figure out what you are going to do. When you realize that everything is up to God, you go to bed for one reason, and that is to get some rest. It can be a difficult thing to achieve this kind of freedom, for no one enjoys not being in control of their lives at first. Once you have reached that point, however, it brings great peace, just like it did for Jesus:

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm (Luke 8:22-24).

Notice that Jesus was the One who initiated their trip, so He undoubtedly knew the storm was coming. He knows your imminent storms, too, but He has everything under control. He wants you to learn to put your trust in Him and not your own strength. Can you go to bed and sleep when your storms are raging? If not, then you have some work to do to shore up your trust in the Lord.