A Gift from God
Theme of the Week: Unsqueezing Time
John Ortberg
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
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A Gift from God
Theme of the Week: Unsqueezing Time
Tuesday, June 25
Key Bible Verse: It is useless for you to work … until late at night … for God gives rest to his loved ones (Psalm 127:2). Bonus Reading:1 Kings 19:1–8
America has a sleep deficit worse than the national budget deficit, an article in Time magazine suggested; it results in everything from increased irritability to fatal car accidents. Thinking, feeling, and acting like Jesus requires enormous energy. And I was just too tired to give it. So I realized that if I was serious about becoming a more loving person, I was going to have to get more sleep.
Sleep is an act of trust. "I will lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe" (Psalm 4:8). I'm reminded that the world is in God's hands, not mine. At the appropriate time, my eyes will open and I'll receive the gift of wakefulness once again. "I woke up in safety; for the Lord was watching over me" (Psalm 3:5).
Have you ever tried to pray when you're lacking sleep? Before Elijah was to spend a prolonged time in solitude and prayer at Mount Horeb, the angel of the Lord had him take not one, but two long naps. Contrast this with the disciples at Gethsemane, who couldn't pray because they kept falling asleep.
Maybe the most spiritual thing you could do right now is to put this down and take a nap!
—John Ortberg in The Life You've Always Wanted
My Response: What must I do to get enough sleep?.
Thought to Apply: It is … common … that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
—John Steinbeck
Adapted from: The Life You've Always Wanted (Zondervan, 1997).
Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
May/June 2002,Vol. 5,No. 3
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