Essential to a Good Night's Sleep

Per the sleep industry, the key to great night’s rest lies in the proper mattress: foam mattresses that conform to your body supporting it in all the right places, innerspring mattresses for even firmness, or hybrids that have both spring and foam for the best of both worlds. Yet, a new Consumer Report study shows 68 percent of Americans (an estimated 164 million people) struggle to sleep at least one night each week, if not more.

We can have the best mattress, a pillow that puts us in the proper alignment, and sheets made out of cotton from Giza, but if there’s unrest in our thoughts, then we won’t sleep well. Take King Darius, as King of Babylon. He had the best quality of everything. However, the night Daniel spent in the Lion’s Den, the king tossed and turned, probably yanking the silk sheets along with him, and beating the pillow to fluff it up. However, his thoughts kept turning to the awful vision of Daniel being torn to shreds.

Daniel, on the other hand, stayed the night on the hard floor of a cave with pacing lions, yet he sounded well-rested and chipper the following morning. His first words to the king were, “May the king live forever!” He then explains how an angel of the Lord shut the mouths of the lions (Daniel 6:21-22).

King Darius might have had all the outer workings for a good night’s sleep, but he didn’t have the inner peace. He relied on his wisdom, power, and abilities, whereas Daniel trusted God. After discovering he’d been tricked into sending his friend to certain death, King Darius made every effort until sundown to find a way to save Daniel. At sunset, when no solution presented itself, he had no choice but to execute the punishment of his decree and lost sleep over it.

I’m guilty of mulling over problems, waking up, and stressing over a solution that I, too, cannot find. I think, like King Darius, that it is my responsibility, and in my power, to fix it. I take on the burden, and my sleep suffers. I worry if my boys will get back home okay. I worry about work and if my projects will get done in time. I worry if the world is going to be okay. And there are plenty more fears waiting next in line.
When will I learn I’m not capable of holding the lion’s mouths closed with my bare hands?

It’s the nights, where instead of worrying, I release my grip and give my problems to God that I find rest. When I allow Him to close the lions’ mouths, I sleep well, leaving it in His control.

There is no problem too big for an all-powerful God, nor a worry too small that He doesn’t notice.

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” – Matthew 6:26-27

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