Hey All,
How many of us find ourselves up late because we cannot sleep? The truth is that more of us on annual basis are struggling with the stress that comes from everyday life, work, finances, health, and etc. I myself at times, wander into the living room to keep from waking Brenda up and turn on the TV to create a distraction for my mind. (The funny thing about this is she cannot take me to a movie anymore because it ends up putting me to sleep as if I were on the couch at 2 AM.) Yet at other times, I find myself praying at 2 AM in the morning, asking God to show me what is keeping me from restful needed sleep and what He is trying to teach me. Finally at times in these stretches of time, I believe the Holy Spirit is trying to convict me to just turn it all over to God and submit to whatever He has in store for me. Psalm 55 has some encouraging reminders about this entire subject, so let’s dig a little deeper there.
Psalm 55:1-4
In the first four verses when we pray this Psalm we are asking God to hear our prayer as we humbly ask. Just as we discussed at the beginning of this Blog, it says that are our heart is in anguish, we are restless with the prayer and distracted by this situation. That sounds a lot like being up at 2 AM looking for a solution to the problem. Finally it says in verse 3 that the voice of the enemy brings pressure, trouble and anger upon me, which pretty much covers any issue in a board sense. Now that has my attention.
Psalm 55:6-8
I love the next part of the Psalm because what is the most natural response to a problem? Oh that I had wings of a dove. I would just fly away and be at rest! Let’s run from our problems. Act like they didn’t happen. Go to our place of refuge. For some that is “retail therapy” and others that is compartmentalizing so that we can do all the things we enjoy doing. Yet what do we know? Our problem will still be there when we return from our temporary place of refuge waiting for us to deal with our issue.
Psalm 55:16-19
Finally we see where we should go in verse 16 I shall call upon God, and the Lord will save me! How often should we do this when we are dealing with a problem? Verse 17 says Evening, Morning, and at Noon, I will complain and He will hear our prayer. Does that mean 2AM when we are up in the middle of the night? Absolutely and any other time we have a need we need to turn it over to God. In verse 18 it says that all who bring their problems will find peace!
Psalm 55:22
In verse 22 we are reminded that if we cast our burdens onto the Lord and He will sustain us! He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. Now this should bring us all some peace and allow us to rest.
So to wrap up!
We are reminded in Psalm 55 that God wants to hear are burdens and we should call upon Him without ceasing as much as we feel is needed: morning, noon and night. No mater what the issue is our God will take care of us. The one thing that is not talked about in this Psalm is something that Chris spoke about several weeks ago in worship. When we come to God an layout our petitions we must also be willing to submit to His plan for us to resolve the problem. We may not always know what this is immediately but we need to trust in His unfailing love for us that all things work together for good for those you love Him. Romans 8:28
Father I pray this week that whatever burdens we have, that we lay them at your feet at the foot of the cross, for it is through your Grace and son’s salvation that we are saved. We know that you want only what is best for us. Help us to see your will in every situation and be obedient to your prompting. We ask all this in the name of your precious son Jesus. Amen? AMEN!
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