Sleepless Nights and
Stressful Days
What do you do when the pressures of daily life assail and
assault you?
Since the LORD God has saved you by His grace from
beginning to end, why should you tremble before the lesser dangers of this life?
King David tells of an experience how he was able to lie
down and sleep in the midst of a sudden danger occasioned by his son Absalom’s
rebellion (2 Samuel 15-16).
“I lie down and sleep; I awake again, because the LORD
sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every
side” (Psalm 3:5-6).
David went to sleep trusting God with one of the greatest
threats to his life. God was a shield around David as he slept trusting God with
his life.
C. H. Spurgeon said, “It is the most bitter of all
afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God.” Those are
the most crushing moments in our lives. We feel as if the very floor has been
pulled out from us, and someone has greased the rope we were holding on to
desperately.
King David in the first stanza gave expression to the great
crisis he was experiencing. He acknowledged and deeply experienced the deep
anxious feelings. His enemies have risen up against him. “O LORD, how many are
my foes! How many rise up against me? Many are saying of me, ‘God will not
deliver him’” (vv. 1-2).
Think about it. Sometimes we, too, feel like our enemies
are giants much larger than life, and we are mere ants ready to be crushed. We
seem overwhelmed when we take inventory of our lives.
David was fleeing from his son Absalom. Are you fleeing the
presence of a son, daughter, or spouse who has turned their lives against
everything you believe in and are committed to in life? Perhaps you face an
uphill battle in pursuing the God-given goals in your life. You may feel like
the cutthroat environment where you work is an open warfare. Instead of swords,
knives and bullets they are swords of lying gossip, rumors, deceit,
misrepresentation, etc. As you go to work you are dreading the living hell in
the jungle at the office. There is always that animal that is pushing buttons
trying to find your vulnerable spot. The enemies of the gospel are saying, “God
will not deliver you.” Who hasn’t felt the assault of the enemy?
The second stanza tells us how David gained the victory. He
put his confidence in the LORD God. There is no other way to explain the change.
He takes his mind off his enemies and focuses his attention on the only one who
can deliver him.
“But You are a shield around me, O LORD, You bestow glory
on me and lift up my head. To the LORD I cry aloud, and He answers me from His
holy hill. Selah” (vv. 3-4).
Like a great crescendo of orchestra music the psalmist
says, “Pause. Just think about it.” We often respond with “Praise the Lord!”
Faith says, “I have committed my soul to the LORD God in
His matchless grace in Jesus Christ. Since He has saved me by His grace alone
through faith alone in Christ alone, He is quite capable as my sovereign God to
take care of this frightful matter at hand. This personal ordeal I am presently
facing is small in comparison to what God has done to save my soul. I can trust
this to Him and rest.”
When we gaze at the problems we face and see our weakness
it all seems impossible. However, when we bring God into the picture we see Him
in His true great stature as the eternal sovereign one. Our mountains become
foothills. Our giants become ants. Our fears become occasions to see the great
hand of God in our lives.
David cried out to God for help, knowing that God heard
Him. He leaned upon the LORD saying, “I lie down and sleep; I wake again,
because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up
against me on every side” (vv. 5-6).
Are you willing to say? “Lord, I hand this matter over to
You. You are bigger than this problem can ever become. Nothing gets out of hand
with You.”
David prayed, “Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! . . .
From the LORD comes deliverance.” And like David, you can go to sleep knowing
the LORD will deliver you.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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