Perfect Peace

      By Fern Horst

"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4:8)

"Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." (Psalm 127:1b)

Night time is usually when our fears are the most vivid to us. Thoughts that we easily avoid during the day come tumbling into our minds when we lay our heads down to sleep. Perhaps especially if we live alone, the fear of intruders can keep our minds at attention rather than relaxed and ready for a good night's rest.

I thank the Lord for the peace that comes through trusting Him. We can confidently cast all our cares on him, because He cares for us (I Peter 5:7). It is God who protects us. We know that we can't prevent every bad thing from happening to us. For reasons we don't always understand, God doesn't always prevent them, either. But we do know that if He allows something bad to happen, He walks with us through it, even through the valley of the shadow of death. He is never absent from us.

So when we lay down to go to sleep, it's important that we remember this: God is our protector and provider. We can commit whatever we're worried about into His hands for safe keeping. If He is not willing - for reasons that are higher than ours - to keep safe what we commit to Him, there is absolutely nothing we can do to change it. We just need to trust His wisdom, His goodness, and His grace that is sufficient for us no matter what happens.

Truly, unless the Lord keeps watch over us (and He does!), we lie awake in vain.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3)

© 2007 Fern Horst

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