While everyone periodically deals with a night of poor sleep, finding yourself strangled by worry in the middle of the night should cause us to examine matters at a deeper level. You see, sleep is not merely a physical necessity. It is a theological declaration, and God has designed it to be that way. It is often when we are not depending upon God that sleep becomes scarce.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Ps. 127:2)

My eyes would snap open at 2:30 a.m., and the concerns would already be running laps around my mind. What are we going to do financially if this happens? How should we handle this pastoral situation? Before I could roll over and get back to sleep, my brain would decide this was the perfect time to solve these problems, along with many of the world’s problems. The real problem, though, was that these midnight mental workouts were rarely productive.

The minutes staring at my ceiling would turn into hours, all the while different scenarios would sprint through my mind.

That sort of experience marks my nights too regularly. While everyone periodically deals with a night of poor sleep, finding yourself strangled by worry in the middle of the night should cause us to examine matters at a deeper level. You see, sleep is not merely a physical necessity. It is a theological declaration, and God has designed it to be that way. It is often when we are not depending upon God that sleep becomes scarce.

You are not God.

Sleep is a declaration that we are not God, and He is in control. Psalm 3:5 states, “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.” Over in Psalm 4:8, David writes, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” Do you see how the psalm writers link sleep to God’s character and work? Their sleep is rooted in a belief that God is our Sustainer and Protector. To put it another way, sleeping is a testimony that God is God, and we are not.

Laying your head on your pillow each night and closing your eyes to the things of this world forces you to realize that the world continues to function without you. Likewise, parents face the truth that our children are out of our supervision and out of our protection for hours upon hours each night, and yet, they are not out of supervision or protection. There is an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God who is upholding the entire universe and watching over his people, all without breaking a sweat. To use the words of John Piper, “Sleep is like a broken record that comes around with the same message every day: Man is not sovereign.”

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