Dwelling in safety

Sleeping in Peace

Psalm 4:8 “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.”

Jesus reminds Us we Can Sleep in Peace

Do you suffer from insomnia?

I have in the past and at times I still do but it is not as bad as it has been. I have found the secret to sleeping peacefully and David the psalmist shared his secret with me and it's right there for you too!

So first of all to sleep peacefully at night, you need to reduce your sugar and caffeine intake during the day. Get exercise and drink plenty of water early in the day if possible. Maybe take a warm bath and reduce screen time before bed. That is an easy part of the solution to sleeping peacefully. The harder part is when you lay your head on your pillow.

What happens to you when you lay your head on the pillow?

Do you find that you think about your day, all that you did, and all that you said?

And maybe you are a little like me wondering should you have done anything differently. Then you probably start thinking about tomorrow and all that you have to do. It is hard to stop all these thoughts from going around and around your mind.

But, David has some wise advice about how to sleep in peace that will encourage your heart and help you to hand over to God all that stress that builds up in the day and it takes care of your worries about tomorrow. We read all through the psalms and in the book of Samuel about David and the times of extreme stress that he went through.

Right from the time that David was a shepherd boy, he enjoyed a close relationship with God. He knew how to practice His presence. Being in a right relationship with God enabled him to place his trust confidently in God to keep him safe during the night even when he was in hiding from his enemies. Instead of tossing and turning at night, David tossed his burdens on the Lord. David knew God and had seen evidence of His mighty work in his life over and over again. So he could confidently say in Psalm 4:8, "In peace, I will lie down and sleep".

You will also love what David says in Psalm 3:5,

"I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me."

David had confidence in God to protect him from his enemies and you can have this confidence too!

You are God's treasure and He has good plans for your life. We all get scared and lose our way. We all need this reminder from David, "In peace, I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O LORD will keep me safe."

Here is another fun verse to be thinking of just before you dose off. Psalm 16:7,"I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me."

If you invite God to protect and teach you as you sleep, He will!

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So many times we’re restless in sleep with all the things going on in our lives, the things going on in the world around us, but God intends for us to lie down and sleep in peace, for He alone. If our minds are fixed on all kinds of things in this world, we will be restless in our sleep.

But when we fix our minds on Him alone and the safety he gives, the security, He is, you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety. You are safe in the arms of God, secure in the promises of God, and you are able to rest in the peace of God.

This reminds me of God's unfailing ability to provide...from manna in the wilderness, to his one and only Son, to a home in eternity. It's true, this world isn't “safe.” Anything can happen. But if we have a place to lay our head down, and we're given another day, we can trust that God is our safe dwelling place.

Many of us may lie down and sleep thinking of all the circumstances and problems in our lives and whether the following day is going to be different and solutions to them are going to be brought. There might be countless times where you’ve asked yourself why you’re surrounded by a large number of circumstances or whether the huge adversity you’re going through will end at any time. What’s more, you feel like you cannot find a way out of it.