6 I lie awake thinking of you,
meditating on you through the night.
7 Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely.
meditating on you through the night.
7 Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely.
First, I have to tell you that I was not lying awake thinking of God as the scripture says. I was praying but probably not in the way this passage is saying....probably more a prayer of desperation. But, as the night turned to morning my thoughts did go the way of easy more meditative thoughts. I started realizing that if I kept the Lord in the forefront of my thoughts that rest came easier. I may not have slept but I did eventually rest.
When we are going through something that just seems to have no end what is it we should do? My study Bible says to make it a point to count examples of God's faithfulness.
You know His mercy is so great and really it knows no end. Our Lord is always holding out His hand to us and if we take it we will find many wonderful things that He has for us. Some of them are faithfulness....mercy....hope....rest....and His mighty strength to hold us up and get us to the other side of our problem.
Then I read verse 1 again.
1 O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
Life can spiral out of control for many reasons. When it does I find that I start feeling empty. I long for something to change how I'm feeling. In the past I have used many different things to fix this feeling. None of them worked. When our whole body....our entire being....is suffering or lacking something....only the Lord can help us. He can give us rest and comfort when nothing or no one else can.
Another passage that comes to mind is this....
Psalm 42:1
As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
so I long for you, O God.
Everything that has life needs water. The water that we need most is the Living Water....JESUS. In the midst of your trial reach out for that living water. If you reach up for His hand you will find it....even in the night!
Linking up with Tracy at Winsome Wednesday.
Linking up with Tracy at Winsome Wednesday.
9 comments:
Hi Chelle,
I sure do hope you sleep better tonight. :)
We all need the Living Water, amen!
Here is a Psalm that I love and I pray part of this over my family and I every night.
Psalm 121:1-8 NIV
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
For some very strange reason, I am not receiving any of your blog posts in my reader. :( I am going unfollow you and then re-follow you again. Maybe that will correct the problem.
Blessings,
<><
Our prayers of desperation are heard and then delivered with the help of the Holy Spirit when we can't find the words.
I love how God will speak so directly to us through His Word that way! Praying you find sleep and healing tonight.
Child of God has the perfect scripture prayer for that :)
"make it a point to count examples of God's faithfulness."...That is better than counting sheep!
Love you~ Lisa
This is the first thing I read this morning after a night of restless sleep. The reason for my restlessness? I learned that someone VERY close to me is struggling in her marriage, fighting all the time, throwing around the "D" word. As a result, their children are suffering. One is being held back in school this year and feels awful about it the other is experiencing severe panic attacks. My heart aches for this family, especially the children.
How have I been handling it? Prayer first, but then letting it worry me and then turning to...I'm ashamed to admit this...food...to make me "feel better". Of course, it does no such thing. It just gives me an upset stomach, heartburn and sleepless nights.
Fortunately, it's only been 2 nights and I woke up determined NOT to do that again. You post today reminded me to turn to God, lay my concerns at His feet and receive the rest in my spirit that I need.
Thank you for faithfully blogging, Chelle, I'm sure you're touching more people than you know.
Hi Chelle, all I can say to this is that I absolutely love Psalms, it always speaks to my heart and I am floored by how often, what I read is what I need
God bless
Tracy
I so relate Chelle! When I had my stroke, I spent most of my "down" time in the hospital not asking him to heal me....but thanking him for being so faithful to me! Good read! God bless!
Hi Chelle,
I Just came over to your blog from JBR's blog and noticed that this post was put up on May 7th, yet on my blog list on the right hand side of my blog it is showing your last post as a month ago. I don't know why that is happening, I will have to check some other blogs that don't appear to have new posts on them. I have missed out on reading so many of your posts since a month ago, I shall have to catch up on them. I have just read your recent post and it is lovely, so true how it is only the living water of the Lord that can truly refresh us. God bless you.
Sleepless nights can be a torment. When I used a special medication, one of the side effects was: insomnia. Since then ... I no longer think sleepless nights are nonsense.
Very good to meditate! Against our fears and anxiouty there is His eternal presence: day and night.
Wonderful Scriptures to meditate on. Those nights are long without the Lord. Oh, how we need Him. I am glad I came by.
Caring through Christ, ~ linda
Hi Chelle,
I can testify to the fact that during the darkest and most difficult days of my life, the comfort of the Lord gave me peace. I remember picking up my Bible and reading, it did not matter where I read, but His Word spoke to me unlike anything I had ever experienced. Oh and the Psalms, they are full of comforting words. Thank you for sharing and may God bless,
Ken
Post a Comment