The Bible is an amazing document. It contains the words of God and was authored under His divine instruction and inspiration. For a Christ-follower it is the guide and the road-map for life.
The Bible contains everything that we, as believers, need to succeed and to grow in our relationship with God. It also contains vast amounts of wisdom and knowledge for daily living. Here’s an example that you might have forgotten or overlooked; it is the Lord’s instruction on how to have a great night’s sleep.
21 My son, let them not vanish from your sight;
Keep sound wisdom and discretion,
22 So they will be life to your soul
And adornment to your neck.
23 Then you will walk in your way securely
And your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden fear
Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes;
26 For the Lord will be your confidence
And will keep your foot from being caught. (Proverbs 3: 21 – 26) NASB
Notice verse 24, which is in bold type. When you lie down you will not be afraid and your sleep will be sweet. What a great promise!
Now I don’t know about you but my sleep isn’t always sweet! There have certainly been times when I have been anxious about something and it has kept me awake and I have not gotten a good night’s rest. You would think that to the God of the universe and the creator of all that our sleep wouldn’t be high on His list of problems to address. Yet here is His instruction in the book of Proverbs, given to us all so that we might attain proper physical rest.
God loves us so much that he cares to address common, ordinary human problems right in His Word. And if you look at this verse in the context of verses 21 through 26 you will see very quickly why this is. Proverbs is a book about wisdom, knowledge, instruction, understanding and diligence. When we search for God’s wisdom and instruction and seek to understand Him and His ways and apply these things with diligence to our lives then the result will be security, stability, confidence in the future and the best night’s sleep that you could ever have. In other words, God cares to address how we are sleeping because when we aren’t sleeping well it is usually a sign of some other larger problem.
Whether it is a problem of our own making or one that is brought on by outside circumstances matters not. When we choose to focus on the problem and our lack of resources to solve the problem then the result is always anxiety, restlessness, anxiousness and often times fear and a lack of good sleep. However, if we know who holds all of the resources and we have been diligent in following God’s Word and His instructions then we have nothing to fear and everything to gain.
Furthermore, even when we haven’t been diligent and we have made a complete mess of things we have a God who is faithful and just to forgive if we will call on His name and ask for forgiveness. When we repent of our sin and error God can take the mess that we have made and still work it out to the ultimate good, if we will let Him. This is something that only God can do!
Ultimately, even though God loves us so much and has given everything He had to save us and make us His own children He still leaves the relationship details up to us. He has provided every instruction and bit of wisdom that we could ever need in the Bible but it is up to us to seek it out. Like Proverbs 3:22 says “let them be life to your soul and as adornment for your neck”. We need to be so serious and put so much effort into seeking God’s instruction for our life that His Words are lodged in the very center of our being (our souls) and worn on our person in the same way that someone might display a beautiful jewel or precious stone.