Sleep: Too tired to sleep?
My sleep departed from my eyes (Genesis 31:40).
There are times in our lives when, like Jacob in our verse this morning, we feel exhausted but carry on in weariness. We need to rest but cannot sleep properly. This happens when we are unwell, when worry overwhelms us, when we fail, or someone fails us. The Lord could not rest in Gethsemane when His disciples fell asleep. The burden in His heart was too great. What He did was to bow in the presence of His Father and pour out all that filled His holy heart (Luke 22:41-43). Matthew tells us that, after praying, the Lord said to His disciples, “Rise, let us be going” (Matthew 26:46). It was not sleep that prepared the Lord for Calvary, but being in communion with His Father.
When we cannot sleep it is being in the presence of the Lord in prayer that brings peace and restores us. Hannah is the great example of this in 1 Samuel 1. After pouring out her soul before the Lord (v. 15), her face was no longer sad (v. 18). In Luke 24, the two disciples invite the Lord into their home with the words “the day is far spent” (v. 29). It was time to rest, but the joy of seeing the Lord in resurrection gave them the energy to overcome sleep and walk all the way back to Jerusalem.
What do we do when we feel past ourselves and exhausted? Hebrew 12:1-2 helps us: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” As Christians, we cast our care upon the Lord, we run unhindered, looking up, not around. We fix our eyes on the Lord and follow Him, applying His ministry to our lives. We consider the example of His life, to remove weariness and weakness.
Further, in verses 12 and 13 of Hebrews 12 we read, “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” A picture is painted of inactivity and weakness. The hands are not engaged in work, and the knees are not able to lift heavy loads. Have you ever watched those extraordinary athletes called weightlifters? Their backs and knees are always supported to strengthen them as they lift weights the human body was not designed to lift. Our knees are essential for lifting heavy weights. In these verses they illustrate spiritual weakness. We are encouraged to “strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees”. How do we do this? By lifting up holy hands (1 Timothy 2:8) and bowing down on our knees in prayer to become “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). In so doing, at the throne of grace we experience “mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). We discover:
Those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).
