Sleeping Soundly

In his book, The Celtic Way of Evangelism, George G. Hunter III writes about St. Patrick of Ireland. Patrick was an english bishop, who had been kidnapped by pirates, taken to Ireland and sold into slavery. He began a life of passionate prayer while he worked and one day, was able to return to England a free person. He enrolled in seminary, became a priest and later a bishop, and then heard a call from God to return to Ireland to share the gospel with the people there. When he returned, Ireland was divided among small clans that often went to war with one another. After spending all day fighting and fearing for their lives, the only way some Irishmen could sleep would be to drink until they passed out. The Irish people noticed how soundly Patrick slept. Patrick was constantly confronting kings and druid priests who often feared and hated him, yet he slept soundly, because his faith was greater than his fear.

Sometimes, there are things in our lives that keep us from getting good sleep. Some of you have babies or toddlers at home and you are so tired, you think Humpty Dumpty is speaking right now. You’re not, this is just how I look. Some of you are out there fighting to stay awake right now because your job has though hours and you look like you’re bobbing for apples right now. And some of you are old and are just tired and you’ve earned it so go ahead and get some sleep.

But for some of you, it’s not the kids, or the weird hours or age that keeps you from getting a good sleep. It’s things like anger, worry, grief, or stress. It must be a work of the devil, but it seems like my wife and I argue closer to bed time than at any other time of the day and whenever it happens, I toss and turn in anger for hours. I lose sleep because I am acting in an unwise or an ungodly way.

What about you? What keeps you from a good sleep? Are you stressed about something, frustrated in a relationship, worried about something? Last week, I described some of these things as “self-made calamities.” These are issues that because we weren’t wise in some area - in how we handled a situation, in how we related to someone or in how we managed our resources - and our lack of wisdom has led us to exhaustion and sleeplessness, which somehow makes all the issues worse.

Today, I want us, as we continue our series on how to “Fool-proof your Life”, to understand that WALKING IN WISDOM LETS US SLEEP SOUNDLY.

Proverbs 3:21–26 NLT

My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they will refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace. They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.

Now, I don’t mean that we will never have another sleepless night. We all get them for a variety of reasons. But if we walk in the fear of the Lord and in wisdom, then we will experience peace in our souls and peace leads to good sleep. Today, I want to share with you three ways that we can experience peace if we walk according to God’s ways.

1. Peace in Discernment - Proverbs 2:9-11

How do you determine what truth is? How do you figure out if something is right or wrong, good or evil? Let me clarify my questions: I don’t mean, “how does one determine what truth is?” I mean how do YOU determine what truth is. How do YOU know if something is right or wrong?

The process of determining right and wrong is called discernment and it is something that is sorely needed in today’s world. Everyone has a different opinion about what is right and wrong and navigating these choppy waters of individualized truth is not easy. The book of proverbs gives us some good news in this area though. In chapter 2, it starts off with a promise of what happens when we “turn our ear to wisdom and apply our heart to understanding.”

Proverbs 2:9–11 NLT

Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.

Wisdom is not just head knowledge. Playwright and short story author Anton Chekhov said, “Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” That’s what wisdom is - it is knowledge lived out in practical ways. When you seek wisdom and live it out, you are able to discern what is right, just and fair.

When you gain the wisdom to handle your money responsibly, you learn to discern when and what to buy to make sure you are getting a good value for your money.

When you gain the wisdom to learn about and from history, you learn to discern what the foundations of your culture are and you begin to see the injustices that are still present in it. After all, as George Santayana said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

When you gain the wisdom to be a life-long learner, you learn to discern when someone is treating you fairly. You become harder to manipulate and trick the more you learn about life. If you learn about cars, it’s harder for a bad mechanic to trick you into unnecessary repairs. If you learn about building things, it’s harder for a shoddy builder to get away with scamming you. The more you know, the better protected you are from those who would cheat you and the better you will sleep.

Pursuing wisdom will give you peace in discernment - in figuring out what is right and wrong.

Philippians 4:8–9 NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

When we experience peace, we sleep better and in order to experience peace in your discernment, pursue wisdom by being a life-long learner, by asking great questions and by putting what you learn into practice.

2. Peace in Decision Making - Proverbs 3:5-6

How many of you struggle with decision making? I get it. I have to make a lot of decisions every week and it gets so exhausting that I have a standing rule with my family. If we go out to eat, I never want to choose where we are going. I hate making that decision for everyone. The same is true for family movie night. I don’t ever want to make that decision either. I will happily enjoy or critique whatever you pick, but I don’t want the responsibility of you having fun, so you choose and I’ll just go along with it.

A woman named Donna Pacuillo was interviewing candidates for an assistant, and she had narrowed the applicants to two women. One had more experience; the other was more personable. Unsure of which was was the better choice, she headed for her boss's office, still undecided. When her boss realized she needed help, he produced a quarter, saying, "Heads, It's experience. Tails, it's personality." He flipped the quarter high into the air and then asked, "Quick! What are you thinking?" "Tails," she blurted. She realized that, as the quarter flipped over and over in the air, she had been wishing it would come up tails. The quarter landed in his palm and without looking at it, he said, "Call Personnel with your executive decision."

Maybe, like Donna, you have a decision in front of you and you are unsure of what to do, but unlike Donna, a simple coin flip isn’t going to help. When we encounter those decision, often anxiety and worry begin to cloud our mind and we can spend hours at work daydreaming over different scenarios instead of getting our tasks done or we spend our nights sleeplessly tossing and turning. In chapter 3 in the book of Proverbs, we find a proverb that, when we live it out, can help us experience peace in our decision making.

Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

There is a story in the Old Testament of Saul, who was the first king of Israel. At one point, he was commanded by God to attack the Amalakites, in order to fufill God’s punishment of them for their sin. And the command was to wipe out every one and everything. Saul got an army together, and attacked the Amalekites, just as God commanded through Samuel the prophet. He killed everyone, captured the king and they plundered and stole all the good animals.

Saul leaned on his own understanding and he thought that by capturing the king and by taking the animals for sacrifices, he was doing what God wanted. But the command was to destroy everyone, including the king and everything, including the animals. Saul disobeyed God by doing what he wanted, not what God wanted. And the result of it, was that God rejected him as King and gave the kingdom over to David.

I praise God that instead of rejecting us when we disobey, he sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for us, to atone for our sin, so that we are forgiven, unlike Saul who was rejected. But the principle is there: we need to trust not in our own understanding of how things are but in the Lord and when we do, he shows us which path to take.

I’m always amazed by the story of Jesus’ temptation because it says that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness. Jesus, after being baptized, was so in tune with God, that he heard the Holy Spirit say, “go there” into the wilderness. Which is a great lesson that God doesn’t just lead us to comfort and ease, but sometimes leads us to the hard places in order to help us grow. But when we trust in the Lord and not on our own understanding, then we can have peace in our decision making, knowing that God is leading us and when we have peace we sleep soundly.

So, we can have peace in our discernment and we can have peace in our decision-making. The third way we can experience peace is our our determination.

3. Peace in Determination - Proverbs 4:20-27

I chose this word determination because it starts with the letter d, just like the previous words, and that makes me sound smart. But what I mean is that we can have peace in our determination to keep going and to stay focussed.

My oldest daughter just recently got her G1 learners drivers license, so pray for me. I’m convinced you don’t know fear or frustration until you try to teach a teenager how to drive. But I am grateful, because she is doing a great job, learning to drive. And I’m grateful that she isn’t like 68-year-old Cha Sa-soon from South Korea who in 2009, passed her written exam for her learner’s on her 950th try. She failed the written portion 949 times and spent over $4200 in application fees. She is a testament to perseverance.

On the other side of it though, is King Solomon of Israel, to whom many of these proverbs are attributed. He is a man who started well and finished poorly. Early in his reign, God said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” and Solomon answered,

1 Kings 3:9 NIV

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

God thought this was an awesome answer and gave Solomon a wise and discerning heart, as well as wealth and honor. God blessed Solomon and people from all over would come and hear his wisdom and he ruled well, building a temple for God and a grand palace for himself and his descendants. He became one of the wealthiest people on the planet at that time and by all accounts, his life was a success.

But Solomon had a love for the ladies, especially of women from other countries, who brought with them their foreign gods.

1 Kings 11:4 NIV

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

Solomon started out well, but over time, he allowed himself to be corrupted and to turn from God. And the consequences were massive.

1 Kings 11:11 NIV

So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.

Israel was weakened as a nation because Solomon stopped trusting in the Lord with all his heart. He stopped pursuing wisdom and he rebelled against the calling and commands of God. He lacked perseverance and focus. But in the book of proverbs, we are called to stay the course and stay focussed in wise living.

Proverbs 4:20–27 NIV

My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

I’ve gotten into bicycle riding as a form of exercise lately. I’m up to just over 20km in a single ride in under an hour. Which is pretty good for me and an improvement from when I started. I often ride on the roads near my house and a couple of those roads have a fair amount of traffic on them doing 80km/hr or more and I try to stay on the cement in the 6 inches between the white line and the gravel shoulder. I have found that when I turn my head to look backwards to see the cars coming up behind me, I wobble, almost crash and lose my pace. But if I just keep my eyes facing forward and trust the cars to not hit me, then I ride safer, more stable and I keep my pace.

When it comes to living wisely, it’s important to keep our eyes ahead of us. The path is narrow and on either side are temptations that want to cause us to wobble or even crash. And it’s those wobbles, those crashes that we experience that keep us up at night and disrupt our sleep. They make us feel anxious and stressed. But if we keep our eyes on the prize we can stay strong, we can persevere and in the end, hear the celebratory words from God himself that says, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

Conclusion

To close today’s teaching, I want to read to you from Luke’s gospel.

Luke 8:22–25 NIV

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. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

Jesus was asleep in the middle of the storm because he trusted in God his Father. He wasn’t worried or anxious or stressed. He was at peace because he knew that God his father was with him in all situations. The disciple, on the other hand, were terrified at the storm because they allowed their fear to overrun their faith. Sometimes, we face storms that we didn’t cause and we can’t control. But we don’t have to let fear and anxiety overtake us when we do. We have a God who is with us in middle of the storm, who controls all things, and who loves us deeply. We have a God that saves us and invites us to put our faith in him. When you face life’s storms, don’t allow fear, stress or anxiety keep you from a good night’s sleep. Instead, put your faith and trust in Jesus to see you through to the other side.

But sometimes, we encounter storms of our own making - ones that our foolishness have created. We become stressed and anxious because we have been unwise in our relationships and with our resources and we end up losing sleep because of them. The book of proverbs are practical bits of wisdom to help us learn how to “Fool-proof” our lives and if we apply them, then we can experience a peace that passes all understanding. WALKING IN WISDOM LETS US SLEEP SOUNDLY. So may you experience the peace of God in your discernment, in your decision-making and in your determination to stay the course and may you have a good sleep, knowing that God is with you and he loves you.