January 4: Psalm 4 – Got Insomnia?

“In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Ps 4:8).

            If insomnia comes from an overactive brain (code word for worry), then the solution is to call on the Lord. As a computer programmer in my previous life, it was easy to get fixated on solving a coding problem. It would absorb my thoughts. As systems became more complex, the challenges became larger. I remember laying down at night and saying, “Ok Lord, here’s what I’ll do tomorrow to work on it.” I would take a couple of minutes to outline an approach and then leave it. It was in the Lord’s hands, tomorrow was a new day, there was a plan, and that’s all I could do. I was asleep within five minutes. The Lord gives relief in stress (Ps 4:1).

            When other things happen in my life that could cause worry, I take the same approach. I tell the Lord about it. I tell him what I think he wants me to do and I go to sleep. When I wake in the middle of the night (this is a given, not an if and it doesn’t have anything to do with what I have on my mind) and I can’t go back to sleep because of the particular problem, I go over the same thing. Unless the Lord gives me some insight I missed earlier, I only go over it once and then pray, “Ok Lord, I went over it again, unless you want me to do something different, I’m not going to think the whole thing through again and again. Help me get some sleep.”

            I will also make a concentrated effort to think about something else if needed. Philippians 4:8 tells me to think about things that are true, lovely, etc. instead of those things that would distract me. I break the thought loop of going back over and over a problem by thinking about other things. I may pray for others, thank the Lord for his provision, or praise him. Whatever it is, I’m usually back asleep in no time.

            Anger is one of those things that can keep a person awake at night. Psalm 4:4 directly addresses this reason for insomnia, “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.” We get angry and 99.99% of the time, our anger is sinful. Taking time to ponder why you are angry and admitting that it isn’t “righteous” anger goes a long way to not turning it into even more sin, such as how to get even or denigrating the person you think made you angry. No, we usually get angry because we don’t have a God-centric worldview but a self-centric view. There is something I wanted that I didn’t get or thought I should get. If you want to lie down in peace, then admit the sin and ask the Lord to forgive.

            I pray you have a good night sleep tonight. “He gives to his beloved sleep” (Ps 126:6).