Overcoming Insomnia: Biblical Insights and Promises

Posted on by Adrian Clark
Cozy bedroom with open window overlooking a rainy mountain valley

“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.

God’s Love

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet each other with a sacred kiss. All of God’s people here send you their greetings. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
2 Corinthians 13:11-14 NLT

Scriptures about God’s love and peace can be found throughout the Bible. Take, for example, Genesis 1. We read the creation account and towards the end we find this, “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. … ”” (Genesis 1:26a). What motivated God to create human beings? There was, and is, only one possible explanation: His love. A baby is born today, ready to be lavished with the love of its parents. The waiting is over, the birth happens, and then we see the wonderful picture, repeated many times, of a little scrap of humanity being cradled in his or her mother’s arms, love gleaming in mum’s face through the drying tears following the pain of birth. Didn’t God go through the same loving experience when He birthed Adam and Eve? Wasn’t His love gleaming through the creation story? And then we find the same God, heartbroken, but reaching out over the millennia, to His wayward children, corrupted by sin, rebellion, and denying their very Father. However, God had a plan to be executed through His Son, Jesus. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. The once and forever act of love remains hanging in the air as an invitation to God’s creation, regardless of generation, geography, or gender. 

Paul wrote about the “God of love” being with the Corinthians, and so He will be as well with us today. Paul also wrote that much-quoted passage in 1 Corinthians about love and its fundamental importance in human life. We are made in God’s image, and His love is a fundamental, probably even the most important, part of His character. Everything that we do, as it is with God, must be founded on love. Paul finished his second letter with the blessing “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”. Grace, love and fellowship. Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit. There is something in this verse that grabs our attention, and intuitively, we look upwards to the Source of love.

There is peace to be found in God, and in these war-torn days, with evil and depraved men with fingers hovering over nuclear buttons, with misery consequently tearing at the hearts of God’s creation, peace can be found. But where is it? There is only one place, and that is in Jesus. John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”. “There is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin”, as the old chorus says. God will never turn anyone away from His presence as long as they seek Him with all their hearts. 

Father God. Thank You for Your plan for the salvation of mankind. We look to Jesus and find in Him the love that ripples down from above into our hearts, ready to be shared with those around us. Thank You Lord! Amen.

Tough Love

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“That is why I wrote to you as I did, so that when I do come, I won’t be grieved by the very ones who ought to give me the greatest joy. Surely you all know that my joy comes from your being joyful. I wrote that letter in great anguish, with a troubled heart and many tears. I didn’t want to grieve you, but I wanted to let you know how much love I have for you.”
2 Corinthians 2:3-4 NLT

Paul didn’t want to return to Corinth so that he would have to deliver another confrontational message. He wanted to visit them in a way that gave him “the greatest joy”. If they were joyful, then so would he be. But his first letter wasn’t an easy one to write, and Paul referred to “great anguish” and “a troubled heart and many tears” as he wrote it. But he wrote it, not out of a malicious or frivolous motivation but because he loved them greatly.

That’s the thing about love, true agape love. It requires courage and determination to apply to another in a situation that is ultimately in their own best interests. It particularly applies to a parent and a child when the young person is in danger, or has already embarked on a course of action that would lead to destruction of one kind or another if allowed to continue. But there in Corinth, there were some who had decided to behave in ways that were incompatible with their faith, and some form of correction was required. The man sleeping with his stepmother was a situation involving blatant sin, and, for the two people concerned, as well as their friends who must have condoned it, they needed to know what they did was sinful in God’s sight. So rather than ignore it through a misguided application of love, Paul confronted them head-on, pointing out the seriousness of the situation. 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, “I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship”. He continued, “Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man”. These must have been difficult words to write, but behind them was a feeling on Paul’s part of disappointment that the Corinthian church had come to a point where they had accepted such behaviour. Paul used this situation to expand the scope of what holiness means to a believer. 1 Corinthians 5:11, “I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people”. In other words, if there is sin in the church, then deal with it, because otherwise the whole congregation would end up on the slippery slope that ends in hell. 

Tough love is a widely used phrase in parenting, but its reach is broader and extends to facets of society both inside and outside the church. What would Jesus think or do? was a phrase widely used in teenager camps, and it is true, because the last thing a believer truly wants is to go against the words and character of Jesus. Tough love started at the point where a person comes to faith in Jesus, and we see the ultimate expression of such love in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. God Himself, our loving Heavenly Parent, set forth, through Jesus, the reality of the position He is in when dealing with sinful mankind. He set out a choice between two outcomes: eternal life with Him and eternal life without Him. I can remember being told of a situation where a mother, faced with continuing and unacceptable behaviour from her son, had to say in the end that unless he stopped behaving in the way that he was, then she had to assume he didn’t want to be her son anymore and was no longer welcome in her home. Tough love at a human level, but nothing compared to the ultimate choice offered to mankind.

But tough love for a Christian didn’t end in John 3. Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, “I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference” (Revelation 3:19). And the writer of the Hebrews letter wrote, quoting Proverbs, “For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child” (Hebrews 12:6). I suspect all believers, after they have been on their journeys of faith for a while will have experienced God’s discipline in one way or another. To some, it would have been devastating. To others, it would have been ignored. But in the end, discipline, especially from God, is designed to keep a person on the “straight and narrow” path to eternal life. 

Back to my 1970’s song with the chorus line, “I’d rather live in his world than without him in mine”. That ultimately, in a spiritual sense, is the desire of us pilgrims. We willingly accept all of God’s discipline because one day we want to live with Him in His world, Heaven itself. There is no better place to be.

Dear Father God. We know we mess up at times, and ask for Your forgiveness. We ask You today to search our hearts, and point out to us the error of our ways. In Jesus’ name. Amen.