ODB: Sinking into Grace
February 15, 2019
READ: Psalm 127:1–2
[God] grants sleep to those he loves. Psalm 127:2
Finally, on January 8, 1964, seventeen-year-old Randy Gardner did something he hadn’t done for eleven days and twenty-five minutes: he nodded off to sleep. He wanted to beat the Guinness Book World Record for how long a human could stay awake. By drinking soft drinks and hitting the basketball court and bowling alley, Gardner rebuffed sleep for a week and a half. Before finally collapsing, his sense of taste, smell, and hearing went haywire. Decades later, Gardner suffered from severe bouts of insomnia. He set the record but also confirmed the obvious: sleep is essential.
Many of us struggle to get a decent night’s rest. Unlike Gardner who deprived himself intentionally, we might suffer sleeplessness for a number of reasons—including a mountain of anxieties: the fear of all we need to accomplish, the dread of others’ expectations, the distress of living at a frantic pace. Sometimes it’s hard for us to turn off the fear and relax.
The psalmist tells us that “unless the
— Winn Collier
God, I’m so anxious. I churn inside. Would You help me trust You with my night, with my day, with my life?
Trusting God releases anxiety and carries us into rest.
Source: Our Daily Bread