Sometimes I can’t sleep, Lord.
At night everything looms large before my mind.
At night the issues of the day organize themselves into an army,
marching like an enemy advancing
to pillage my storehouse of
peace.
Worries and concerns of the day turn into terrors of the night.
Simple shortcomings and human frailties become terminal failures
for which there is no grace or mercy.
I feel as if I am slipping off a precipice
and the sapling I grasp
is coming up by the roots.
I am alone and a stalker lurks in the shadows.
I know, Lord, that You are not
the author of confusion.
You are never the source of fear,
for fear is the opposite of faith;
I recognize the terror of the night
as the imposition of Satan.
So, I’ve made Satan a promise:
If he awakens me in the night,
I will spend every sleepless moment praying.
I will pray for my children;
I will intercede for the lost;
I will lift up my husband
to the Father.
I will plead for the salvation of our neighborhood,
our country, our world.
I will pledge with the psalmist to spend every waking hour
“remembering You on my bed.”
I will “meditate on You in the night watches.”
Since I made this promise I find I win
either way:
If I am awake, I have sweet communion with You, Lord.
Or I doze into peaceful rest. Selah!
