Good Morning. Did You Sleep Well?

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“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” is a question I have heard often when I have been the guest in someone’s home.

Last night Ray led our church in “Each Night as I Lay On My Pillow.” It got me to thinking about nighttime, sleep, and the blessings God gives us through them. The only place I could find the song online was in an audio version on a camp songs site. That makes me wonder if this comforting song Ray and I have known for decades is too obscure for you to have heard before. It goes like this:

Each night as I lay on my pillow
I think of my Father above.
I know that He cares for me all through the night
For I am a child of His love.

God is love, God is love.
God is love.
God is love, God is love.
God is love.

When I think of the beauties of Heaven,
Of the stars how they twinkle and shine,
I know that He cares for me all through the night,
For I am a child of His love.

God is love, God is love.
God is love.
God is love, God is love.
God is love.

I don’t know what kind of day you’re having. It might be one of those days when you’d like to count your blessings but so many things are going wrong, you are having trouble remembering them.

It’s good sometimes to step back and think of the seemingly simple blessings that God gives us regularly, things like nighttime, sleep, pillows, and stars. Even on those nights when we hardly slept at all, all of us had twinkling stars overhead. Even if they were hiding behind clouds or a storm, they were still there. They were rotating on their axes, revolving in their God-ordained patterns, just as they have been doing since God placed them there.

That simple camp song reveals many Biblical truths.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep,
For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8

He who made the Pleiades and Orion
And changes deep darkness into morning,
Who also darkens day into night,
Who calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The Lord is His name.
Amos 5:8

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
Psalm 19:1-3

The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42:8

Sleep comes harder at some seasons in our lives than in others. A wise woman once told me her theory that perhaps the reason menopausal women don’t sleep well is because their children are at an age when they need so much prayer. I don’t know that there is a cause and effect there, but I do like the accepting attitude it showed. If sleep isn’t coming when we want it to, we do have the opportunity the psalmist mentioned in Psalm 63:

When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
Psalm 63:6-7

Whatever our situation, whether it is a day when we are bubbling over with joy or we are struggling to find a blessing to count, it is wise to remember that God loves us through all of life’s good times and bad times. He is with us through them, too.

Like you, I have slept like a baby, fallen asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, and tossed and turned for hours. Sometimes I haven’t known the reason behind the tossing and turning and sometimes I have known full-well the reason. But, I’m here to tell you from my six decades of experience, that God is faithful. He will never fail you. And that no matter what happens, you can hold tightly to the truth that:

. . . God is love.
1 John 4:8b

 

 

 

 

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