More than I can even hope to imagine, He cares. Yet I can’t help but wonder how my complaining sounds to a God who sees the whole world all at once. It’s not that God doesn’t sympathize with even the slightest need of mine. As soon as I did it occurred to me that the same God who sees me in my bed and hears my complaining, is the same God who sees starving children, and people caught in the sex trade, and slavery, and every other horrific circumstance with which I cannot relate. I thought I had better turn to the Lord in prayer rather than continue on. I had been groaning and complaining about not sleeping. It is similar to an experience I had the other night. It produces in me a right estimation of my sufferings. I do not have people searching for me so as to kill me, and I am not living with nearly the “daily pressure” (see verse 28) of anxiety for all the churches I have planted and all the evangelistic duty that Paul had. I might struggle to sleep, but if I am hungry I can go to the fridge. Just the fact that Paul acknowledged this as a real trial helps me to not feel so pitiful that I feel it is such. Nevertheless it is as real for you as a broken limb or a lack of food. Sleeplessness is a difficult trial because it always happens in private and it is something many people cannot relate to. Again, it comforts me to see that he included this in a list of things that were absolutely horrible and frightening, yet he considered it a worthy enough trial to mention in this devastating list. One, it gives me comfort to know that the apostle Paul could relate to having many sleepless nights. This might seem strange to you but this comforts me in many ways. Then we see in verse 23 that he was “in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” He was “in danger from rivers, danger from robbers” and danger from all the different people groups who would have loved to have him killed. He describes being lashed by the Jews and beaten with rods. One scripture that I tend to read every morning after a hard night’s sleep is found in 2Corinthians 11:23-29 where the apostle Paul boasts in his weaknesses and sufferings. I know I’ve written about this before, but I thought I’d remind myself of a section of scripture that has always helped me, and if you have struggles to sleep it might help you too. It is physically, emotionally, and mentally draining. There are so many things a person wants to accomplish, and it can be very difficult to do with little (or sometimes even zero) sleep. Sometimes this can be a very discouraging problem. Even as a kid I don’t think I can remember having an easy time getting to sleep or staying asleep.
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