“Again and again that flood will come, morning after morning, day and night, until you are carried away. This message will bring terror to your people. The bed you have made is too short to lie on. The blankets are too narrow to cover you. The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim and against the Amorites at Gibeon. He will come to do a strange thing; he will come to do an unusual deed: For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land. So scoff no more, or your punishment will be even greater.”
Isaiah 28:19-22 NLT
The oracle Isaiah was writing about Judah places even more pressure on the people. He uses vivid language that capably describes the uncomfortable time to come. Immediately, anyone can picture beds and blankets in their minds and relate to a short bed or inadequate blankets. Once sleep is affected, the next and subsequent days are harder to face, and problems amplify. For the Judeans, what was to come was terrible, much worse than their sleeping arrangements, but Isaiah repeated what the Lord had told him. “The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land. So scoff no more, or your punishment will be even greater”.
Why was such a prophecy being spoken out over Judah? Because they looked to other gods and nations for help instead of trusting in the Lord. As Isaiah reminded them, they would have known about how the Lord defeated the Philistines. We can read the account in 2 Samuel 5:19-20, “So David asked the Lord, “Should I go out to fight the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord replied to David, “Yes, go ahead. I will certainly hand them over to you.” So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. “The Lord did it!” David exclaimed. “He burst through my enemies like a raging flood!” So he named that place Baal-perazim (which means “the Lord who bursts through”)”. The Judeans would also have known about the victory over the Amorites at Gibeon. Joshua 10:7-8, “So Joshua and his entire army, including his best warriors, left Gilgal and set out for Gibeon. “Do not be afraid of them,” the Lord said to Joshua, “for I have given you victory over them. Not a single one of them will be able to stand up to you””. So why were the Judeans so blind that they could not see that the Lord would protect them and save them, rather than them having to establish sinful alliances?
It’s the same question that hangs over the world today. We know that there will be evil present on Planet Earth because the devil was cast here from his previous life in Heaven, and he brought his sin and evil with him. For us pilgrims, we may not be facing wars with other nations, which are inadequately equipped to protect themselves, but we are facing a battle with evil, both in our own lives and the lives of those near and dear to us. We pray the Lord’s Prayer, “and deliver us from evil”. Why? Are these just words that we repeat out loud by rote, as part of our prayer times or church liturgies? Or are they a genuine acknowledgement that we worship a God who has promised to protect us from evil? But as we know, there is a cost to being protected by God, and it is quite simple, as we can read in Psalm 91:1-2, “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him“. If we want God’s protection, then we have to trust Him as our Lord and Master, and do what He has told us to do. As the Judeans found out to their cost, to suddenly call upon God only when they were in trouble, ignoring Him the rest of the time, will just not work.
Are we pilgrims finding that the verse, “The bed you have made is too short to lie on. The blankets are too narrow to cover you”, also applies to us? Then we need to get on our knees and ask God to reveal to us what is disturbing our sleep and time of rest. He is faithful and just, and he will forgive our sins as well as deal with our difficulties. Those of us who are older will try to rationalise the situation by claiming that seniors don’t need so much sleep. They will blame the meal they ate too late at night. Or the wind howling around their home. Someone I know treats insomnia with two paracetamols and a glass of sherry. But whatever, we pilgrims will invent all sorts of reasons but fail to mention the only one that matters. Have we forgotten God and His promises?
We pilgrims can take some steps to help us sleep again. One is to meditate on Scripture and read passages like Psalm 4:8, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe”, and there is Psalm 3:5, “I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me”. Such verses read before bed will replace racing thoughts with God’s promises of safety. Another is to confess our sins to God and ask Him, as the Psalmist did, to “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24). And then, if God does reveal something, do what Peter wrote, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7). And if God’s revelation involves something we are doing that we shouldn’t, then, “… if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9). Then having done all this, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
Insomnia is not a condition that should affect us pilgrims. Instead, having done all that God requires of us, then we will find, “The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever” (Psalm 121:5-8).
Dear Heavenly Father. Please forgive us for the times that we fail to look to You when we can’t sleep, and reach for a human remedy instead of the one You have ordained. Thank You that we can trust in You because You are faithful in Your promises. Amen.
