What's Sleep Got to Do with It?

I picked up another Bible version yesterday.  It's called the International Standard Version Bible - a new one to me. I look forward to seeing what it adds to my study since it is the first to take into account some of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the translating.  The passage for today is taken from that version.

"I have cried out with all of my heart. Answer me, Lord!  I will observe your statutes.  I have called out to you, “Save me, so I may keep your decrees.”  I get up before dawn and cry for help; I place my hope in your word.  I look forward to the night watches, when I may meditate on what you have said.  Hear my voice according to your gracious love. Lord, revive me in keeping with your justice.  Those who pursue wickedness draw near; they remain far from your instruction.   You are near, Lord, and all of your commands are true.  I discovered long ago about your decrees that you have confirmed them forever." (Psalms 119:145-152 ISV)

As is too often the case, I find there are some passages here to which I find it difficult to relate.  While I have certainly cried out with all of my heart for God to answer me, and for His will to be done in me, the idea of asking to be saved for the EXPRESS PURPOSE of keeping His decrees is at first a difficult one.  But then I hear that still small voice ask, "What is the Psalmist wanting to be saved FROM?"  Immediately I am reminded of the times that I've found myself feeling like Paul described in Romans:

"For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but I cannot carry it out. For I don’t do the good I want to do, but instead do the evil that I don’t want to do. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me. So I find this to be a principle: when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me. For I delight in the Law of God in my inner being, but I see in my body a different principle waging war with the Law in my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin that exists in my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is infected by death? Thank God through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord, because with my mind I myself can serve the Law of God, even while with my human nature I serve the law of sin.
     Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with the Messiah Jesus. For the Spirit’s law of life in the Messiah Jesus has set me free from the Law of sin and death. For what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did. By sending his own Son in the form of humanity, he condemned sin by being incarnate, so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to human nature but according to the Spirit.  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To focus our minds on the human nature leads to death, but to focus our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That is why the mind that focuses on human nature is hostile toward God. It refuses to submit to the authority of God’s Law because it is powerless to do so.  Indeed, those who are under the control of human nature cannot please God. You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God’s Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to him. But if the Messiah is in you, your bodies are dead due to sin, but the spirit is alive due to righteousness.  And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then the one who raised the Messiah from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you." (Romans 7:18-25, Romans 8:1-11  ISV)

Suddenly that passage from Psalms makes sense to me.  Of course!  How many times have I been frustrated because I find myself doing things I didn't want to do (like overeating) and not doing the things I want to do (like eat in a healthy way)?  How often have I cried out to God for deliverance?  In these situations, ONLY God's saving me from my own sinful human nature enables me to do His will and "keep His decrees"!  Thank you Father, for "so great salvation" (Heb 2:3)!

The next part of the passage from Psalms 119 brings a new thought.  "I get up before dawn and cry for help; I place my hope in your word.  I look forward to the night watches, when I may meditate on what you have said."  I have often found those hours before dawn to be so precious! And life goes much more smoothly when I start and end my day focused on God's word to me.  I contrast these verses with those I have been brought to so often in recent weeks, "It is useless to get up early and to stay up late, eating the food of exhausting labor—truly he gives sleep to those he loves." (Psalms 127:2 ISV)  

I've been grateful for this message that God gives sleep to those he loves, because I often don't get as much sleep as it seems my body would like.  I've found that meditating on this verse has often enabled me to go back to sleep when I wouldn't otherwise have been able to do so.  That has been a real blessing!  This new thought about getting up before dawn to cry for help and looking forward to the night when I can meditate on what God's said - combined with the example of Jesus and his habit of spending part or all of the night in prayer - shows me that there are indeed times when it might not be God's will for me to get a full 8 hours of sleep each night.  

As with so many things, it looks to me like living in a healthy way is more about motivation that specific action.  Why is it that I'm not sleeping?  Am I missing sleep so that I can commune with my Father and think about things He's brought to my attention, or is it because I'm worrying about something instead of trusting Him?  Is it because I'm burning the candle at both ends to try to accomplish the tasks set before me - despite the promise that God's "yoke is easy and His burden is light" (Matt. 11:30) - or is it because I'm seeking my Savior?  I suspect that motivation makes a HUGE difference in the way I experience my day.  And continuing with today's reading reminds me that God can indeed "revive me" (verse 149) if I have been "seeking first the kingdom" (Matt. 6:33). And he loves me enough to do so.  Thank you, Father!

Father, thank you for your care for me!  I'm so grateful, Father, for the habit you've formed in me of meeting with you each morning.  But I realize as I read these verses today that meditating on your words to me as I head to bed would be much more edifying than relaxing with a novel or a TV show!  And, I suspect this would also help curb my inclination to want to eat late at night when I know it's not good for me.  Father, please give me the willingness to focus on your words each night - to form a new habit of seeking you out in the evenings too.  Thank you!  Also, Father, may I be more open to opportunities to demonstrate your love to those around me and more focused on them than on myself.  And Father, if it be your will, please give us the miracle of your gracefulness on the dance floor this evening as we dance in the showcase.  And keep us in your will this day, Father.  May we get clear guidance as to the direction you'd like us to go with regard to classes and cueing.  Thank you, Father!