Can't Sleep? Meditation on Psalm 77

 

Our great-grandson Jayden was staying all night with his grandparents, my daughter Debbie and her husband Ron. Jayden was so excited about going to camp the next day. After he had gone to bed, Debbie checked on him and he was wide awake. He said, “Grandma Deb, my eyes just keep popping open!”

This is how the Psalmist felt in Psalm 77:4 - “You hold my eyelids open.” I have been there! I have prayed for my family, my friends, and even started across the world map in my head to pray for missionaries. Still no sleep.

So...what can we learn from the author of Psalm 77 about those sleepless nights?

(Vs. 5) The Psalmist thinks about the past...We can remember people who have helped us and thank God for them. Jot down their names on a pad by our beds so we can contact them and thank them. We can also remember prayers God has answered for us in the past. 

 (Vs. 6) He remembers a song that helped him. (Just don’t sing it aloud if you have a spouse with you.) He communes or meditates with his own heart and searches with his spirit. What is he searching for in those sleepless hours in the night? Answers to troubling questions?

(Vs. 7-9) The Psalmist does what I do sometimes in the night...worries! Is the Lord going to remember my concerns? Forsake His promises to me?

 (Vs. 10) Interesting word...the Psalmist calls this worry “his infirmity.” Yes! Worry can affect us physically. It certainly touches our spirit. In the middle of the night, it is very easy to worry.

BUT HERE IS THE ANSWER from Psalm 77 when we cannot sleep...

(Vs. 11)  I WILL REMEMBER the works of the Lord.  (That will bring a song to mind!)

 What are they? This is just a partial list...

His salvation He has given us. (John 3:16 - “...that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”)

His presence that is with us at all times. (Psalm 121:4 - “He never slumbers nor sleeps.”)

His grace shown to us and our family in difficult times. (II Samuel 7:18 - “Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”)

His provision for us...including the very breath in our bodies. (Romans 8:32 - “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”)

His beautiful creation that we can enjoy. Psalm 77 concludes with the wonders God has done including clouds, thunder, the sea, lightning, rain...

My delight is to get up on a sleepless night when the moon is coming through our skylights in the kitchen and I feel God is saying, “Maylou, I didn’t want you to miss this.”

Even creation can help us to FOCUS on God’s love to us.

Sleepless nights are difficult when we have a full day ahead, but the Psalmist learned to use them to meditate on (vs. 14 - 20) “the God Who does wonders...Who redeems His people...Who leads His people.”

--Maylou Holladay