4-18-2024

Good Morning All,

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

    During these past few weeks, my wife, my children, and grandchildren have each been battling a cold.  So, with the coughing and nose blowing and getting up to get a drink or take some medicine; a peaceful night’s sleep has been somewhat missing.  Yet in a couple of more days, they will return.  A cold or the flu only lasts so long and soon it gets back to its normal quietness.  Yet for many people in the world, a night of peaceful slumber is hard to come by.

    Many in this world do not sleep peacefully at night.  Some experience this discomfort because of the situation they are in.  They may be homeless or about to be.  They may be hungry or without a job.  They may be in a family where there is no love.  This may be the result of drunks, alcohol, uncontrolled anger or just plain worn out.  That is not counting the millions of people who try to go to sleep at night in a part of the world that is at war.  There are a lot of reasons not to sleep.

    Some of those reasons are self-made and self-inflicted.  Taking a drunken swing at a police officer and then losing your job over it, is pretty much self-inflicted.  Cheating on your spouse is pretty much self-inflicted.  Deciding not to go to work and losing a job is pretty much self-inflicted.  These and dozens of other stories like them can cause you to not get any peaceful sleep.

    There are lots of reasons for nights without peaceful sleep, but the primary reason is that we, as sinful beings, feel a rage within us that is not quenched.  It is always someone else’s fault that I have no peace.  The boss is a jerk, my spouse doesn’t understand me, it was all a big misunderstanding that they overreacted to.  It is not my fault; it is never my fault that I don’t have peace in this world.  Sometimes it isn’t your fault, but if you look really closely and honestly; often times it is.

    The reason most people have no peace is because they think peace comes from themselves or can be enforced.  The truth is that there is only one source of true peace and that is God and the knowledge of his forgiveness of our sins.  The only way to have peace is to receive that peace from God.  We receive that peace when we know that God, through his mercy, has forgiven our sins; we can face the new day with a fresh start.  It gives us the power and opportunity to try and amend our past mistakes.  It gives us the comfort to know that no matter what situation we are in, the situation does not define us; rather it is God’s grace that defines us as his redeemed children.  That is what gives us peace, God’s pure grace and pure grace alone.

Father, I ask that tonight you give me your peaceful sleep.  Guide through the maze of the devil’s lies and tricks.  Help me to see in you the only true hope for peace exists.  Lead me to surrender to your mercy and cling to your grace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret