Peaceful Sleep
Sermon Notes
Hey my name’s Louis, I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening. Welcome to those of you watching this service online, and to those of you here on onsite. Let’s go ahead and dismiss the children to children’s church, and if you didn’t get a chance to check your child in, please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back. They’d be more than happy to assist you with that...
Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Psalms, and it’s a series about giving us melodies of encouragement for everyday life. Everyday life is sometimes difficult and discouraging, but the book of Psalms can teach us theological truths and practical prayers, that can give us melodies of encouragement for everyday life. The Psalm we’re studying today can encourage us when it comes to going to sleep at night. It can help us when it comes to sleeping peacefully at night. Here’s a few interesting facts I learned about sleep this past week:
· Elephants sleep less than any other animal...They only sleep about 3 hours a day, and they only have REM sleep about every 3-4 days.
· A Koala bear gets more sleep than any other animal in the world...They sleep about 18-22 hours a day. (In my house I’m the Elephant and my wife’s the Koala. But if you wake her up too early, she’ll turn into an angry Koala...I talked about facing your fears last week, and one of mine is my wife turning into an angry Koala...After 19 yrs of marriage, I learned not to mess with mama bear when she’s hibernating.)
· Humans usually have between 4-6 dreams per night...If you don’t think you had any dreams, it’s probably because you forgot your dreams.
· If you can fall asleep in less than 5 minutes, you’re most likely sleep deprived.
· Roughly 1 in 3 adults are sleep deprived.
· Roughly 88% of American Adults, lose sleep due to binge-watching tv.
We all know getting enough sleep is important, but we don’t always get enough sleep. Even if we get enough quantity of sleep, we don’t always get enough REM quality of sleep. We can lose sleep from things like tossing and turning over neck and back pain. We can lose sleep from somebody snoring, from using the bathroom, from having children or newborns waking us up in the middle of the night. There are many different physiological, psychological, and personal reasons we can lose sleep at night, and today we’re talking about losing sleep over our problems. We’re talking about how to sleep peacefully at night, regardless of the problems we’re facing in life. So let’s turn to Psalm 4 and get into. You’ll find Psalms in the middle of the bible, and we’ll be in Psalm 4:1-8. Title of the message is Peaceful Sleep. The big idea is you’ll sleep peacefully when you believe God is bigger than your problems, but you’ll lose sleep when you believe your problems are bigger than God...You’ll sleep peacefully when you believe God is bigger than your problems, but you’ll lose sleep when you believe your problems are bigger than God.
Here’s your context. The book of Psalms is an Old Testament biblical hymnbook. The word Psalms means songs, which is why this is a series about giving us melodies of encouragement for everyday life. It’s because they’re different songs and prayers filled with theological truths to encourage us. They’re written by various Old Testament leaders who are expressing their real, raw, honest emotions we can all relate with. Last week we studied Psalm 3 which is a morning prayer, that can prep our hearts to face whatever problems we’ll face in the day. Psalm 4 is an evening prayer, that can prep our hearts to sleep peacefully at night, despite whatever problems are remaining at the end of the day. It’s about learning how to sleep peacefully at night, despite knowing there’s lingering problems we have to face tomorrow. So let’s check it out.
Psalm 4:1-8 states, “Answer me when I call...” That’s a desperate cry for help. It’s a lament prayer to God that’s written by King David. Most scholars agree he’s writing this during a time when his life’s at risk, during a time when his enemy’s military increased to a size that heavily outnumbers his military. So he’s having to flee his kingdom and run for his life. But he’s weeping as he’s running for his life, because the people trying to kill him are from his very own kingdom! It’s his very own people, and the one leading the attack is his son Absalom! Absalom sent over 12,000 soldiers to kill David so he could take his throne. David’s heartbroken over his son trying to kill him, which is why he’s weeping as he’s running for his life. His life’s at risk, his family’s fallen apart, his entire life’s been shattered into pieces. So he turns to the only one who can put his shattered life together again. He turns to God for help saying, “Answer me when I call.” It’s a desperate cry for help, a desperate lament prayer to God. He turns to God in prayer, because he believes certain things about who God is and what God is capable of doing in his life. In vs 1 we’ll see three specific things he believes about God, that causes him to pray to God.
Again vs. 1, “Answer me when I call, God who vindicates me.” In the original Hebrew the word vindicates can also be translated as righteousness. He’s saying it’s God who vindicates him, it’s God who makes righteous decisions on his behalf. David’s expressing that he believes God is righteous...He believes God is righteous, and that God always makes righteous decisions on his behalf, even with the desperate situation he’s in. He doesn’t just believe God is righteous in character, he also believes God is righteous in conduct. Theologically those things go together, because if God is righteous in character, then he’ll also be righteous in conduct. If God is righteous in character, then he’ll also be righteous in every decision he makes for our lives. When it comes to your life do you claim God’s righteous, but then question his conduct?...Do you claim God’s righteous, but then as soon as life gets hard you question his conduct, you question his righteous decisions for your life?...What we’re learning from David is we need to trust both the righteous character and conduct of God. We need to trust God is righteous in character, but also righteous in every decision he makes, including decisions when we’re facing difficult situations in life.
Again vs. 1, “Answer me when I call, God who vindicates me. You freed me from affliction...” What David’s expressing here is he believes God is powerful. He believes God is righteous, but he also believes God is powerful. He believes God is powerful enough to free him from affliction. But notice the word freed is in the past tense, meaning he’s reflecting on all the times God’s liberating power freed him from afflictions in the past. He knows if God’s liberating power freed him from afflictions in the past, then God’s liberating power can free him from afflictions in the present. The Treasury of David Commentary states, “He who has helped us in six troubles, won’t leave us in the seventh. God doesn’t do anything by halves, and he’ll never cease to help us until we cease to need. The manna shall fall every morning, until we cross the Jordan.” God will either free us from our afflictions in the present or in the future when we cross the Jordan, when we enter heaven. But either way we’ll be freed from our afflictions, and this is what David believes about God. He believes God is powerful enough to free him from his afflictions.
Again vs. 1, “Answer me when I call, God who vindicates me. You freed me from affliction; be gracious to me and hear my prayer.” David believes God is gracious. He believes God is righteous, powerful, and gracious. This goes back to the character and conduct of God. David doesn’t just believe God is gracious in character, he also believes God is gracious in conduct. He’s praying to God because he trusts God will graciously respond to his prayers. He’s praying because he believes God is righteous, powerful, gracious in both character and conduct. The more you trust God will answer your lament prayers in a righteous, powerful, gracious way, the more peaceful you’ll sleep at night. We don’t lose sleep over things we’re trusting God with, we lose sleep over things we aren’t trusting God with. We lose sleep when we aren’t believing God is bigger than our problems. David turns to God in prayer, because he has a high view of who God is and what God is capable of doing in his life. He turns to God in prayer, because he believes God is bigger than his problems, instead of believing his problems are bigger than God.
Vs. 2, “How long, exalted ones, will my honor be insulted? How long will you love what is worthless and pursue a lie? Selah.” David’s addressing his enemies here. The exalted ones are prominent citizens and leaders of Israel who’ve become corrupt. They’re allowing David’s honor to be insulted, they’re loving worthless things, and they’re pursuing lies instead of pursuing the Lord. He’s asking them to examine their hearts, repent of their sins, and turn back to the Lord.
Vs. 3, “Know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him. 4 Be angry and don’t sin; reflect in your heart while on your bed and be silent. Selah.” David’s now addressing those he calls the faithful. He tells them it’s okay to be angry, but don’t sin in anger. We can sometimes lash out, say or do sinful things we regret. David’s saying when we’re angry, we should reflect and be silent. We should reflect in our heart and be silent, instead of losing control and sinning. Instead of lashing out at the person, we should pray it out with the Lord. I know I tend to lose the most sleep when I go to bed angry. I toss and turn all night thinking about whatever made me angry. This is true especially if you go to bed angry in marriage. You’ll go to sleep with your backs turned against each other, and Satan snuggling in the middle. He tries to keep the marital couple from making love, so they’ll keep making war. Ephesians 4 states, “Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and don’t give the devil an opportunity.” Don’t let the sun go down when you’re angry, don’t let the devil sleep in your bed. Instead of holding onto your anger, talk to God about your anger.
Vs. 5, “Offer sacrifices in righteousness and trust in the Lord. 6 Many are asking, ‘Who can show us anything good?’” What David’s talking about now is how some of the people still following him, are having a hard time seeing anything good about the situation they’re in. These are some of his family, friends, soldiers, leaders, citizens who are still following him. They’ve lost their homes, lost all their possessions, and their lives are at risk too. They’re running for their lives like David too. So they’re asking David to show them anything good about this situation, because they’re having a hard time seeing anything good. Here’s how David responds.
Again vs. 6, “Let the light of your face shine on us Lord. 7 You have put more joy in my heart, than they have when their grain and new wine abound.” David responds with a simple yet impactful prayer. He says let the light of the Lord’s face shine on us. The people want David to show them anything good about their situation, and he says it’s the Lord that’s good...You want to see something that’s good? It’s the Lord that’s good...What he’s teaching them and us is the Lord is what we need, in our time of need...The Lord is what we need, in our time of need...We need to pray for the Lord’s face to shine on us, to fill our hearts with the joy of his presence. In vs 7 David says the Lord put more joy in his heart, than a full pantry and full wine cellar. In ancient civilizations a full pantry and wine cellar was seen as great prosperity and wealth from a fruitful harvest in the fields. David experienced plenty days like that as a king, but he’s saying none of it gave him the kind of joy the Lord’s given him. You can be rich in the world, but still have poverty in your heart. You can have a full pantry, full wine cellar, full bank account, full house filled with all kinds of people, but still have an empty heart if it isn’t filled with the Lord. David was rich in the world, but still had poverty in his heart, until his heart was filled with joy in the Lord. He’s praying for the Lord to fill his people’s heart with that joy, because their hearts have drifted into being filled with sadness over their situation and loss of possessions.
So how’s your heart? Has your heart drifted?...Has your heart drifted away from finding joy in the Lord, possibly even turned into blaming the Lord for the problems you’re facing?...Are you having a hard time falling asleep because of your problems, or are you falling asleep because you trust the Lord with your problems?...If you have a God who’s big enough to blame for your problems, then you also have a God who’s big enough to trust with your problems...If you have a God who’s big enough to blame for your problems, then you also have a God who’s big enough to trust with your problems...If you aren’t falling asleep with having joy in the Lord, it’s a sign you’re trying to find joy in something else instead of the Lord. You can certainly keep trying to find joy in other things like the American Dream, but eventually the alarm clock will go off and you’ll be faced with some shattered dreams. David didn’t find joy in his situations and possessions, he found it in having friendship with the Lord. We can sometimes drift away from that joy when we take our eyes off the Lord, but that’s why David’s praying for the Lord to shine his face on them. It’s so they’ll put their eyes on the Lord again, and have their joy restored in the Lord.
Vs. 8, “I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone Lord, make me live in safety.” After praying through his problems, he’s now able to sleep in peace. He’s now able to sleep peacefully, because he trusts the righteous, powerful, gracious Lord is watching over him. He trusts that even if he died in his sleep at night, he’ll wake up in the joy of God’s presence in heaven. Now this doesn’t mean he’s ignoring or denying his problems, instead he’s at peace after having prayed through his problems. He knows very well that his life’s at risk, and he knows it’s at the greatest risk when he’s sleeping, since he can’t defend against any assassination attempts while he’s sleeping. He doesn’t deny the reality of any of this, which is why he’s having to pray. He’s having to talk to the Lord about his problems before he goes to sleep, because he needs the Lord to calm his heart from all the fears, anxieties, worries he’s having before he goes to sleep. He’s having to pray for the Lord to calm his heart before he goes to sleep, or else he’ll never fall asleep. The point is we shouldn’t ignore our problems, fears, anxieties, and worries, instead we should talk to God about our problems, fears, anxieties, and worries. We should pray our problems to God, but then trust that God is greater than our problems. You don’t have to stay up at night worrying about your problems, when you trust God is bigger than your problems.
The big idea of the message is you’ll sleep peacefully when you believe God is bigger than your problems, but you’ll lose sleep when you believe your problems are bigger than God... David was able to sleep at night, because he trusted God with his problems. Like David we can sleep well at night, if we believe God is in control even while we sleep at night. But you’ll lose sleep at night, if you try to control everything that’s happening in your life. You can’t control everything that’s happening in your life, so you need to accept that life won’t always go your way. But that’s okay, because the Lord’s still there to help you through the day. Even if it feels like your life is out of control, you can still sleep peacefully at night trusting the Lord’s still in control. You can still sleep peacefully at night trusting the Lord’s bigger than your problems.
Jesus is the God who’s bigger than your problems. He proved it when he died on the cross and rose again. He died to save us from our biggest problem, which is sin and a spiritual death that leads to eternal separation from God. Jesus is our savior who loved us enough to die for us, which means he also loves us enough to help us. He loves us, forgives us, is willing to be there for us no matter what problems come at us. He’s always with us ready to greet us in the morning, guide us through the day, and calm our worried hearts at night when we pray. Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” You don’t have to worry about tomorrow, because Jesus is bigger than the problems you’ll face tomorrow. If you’re willing to trust Jesus with your salvation, then be willing to trust him with your problems. Trust him with your salvation, trust him with your problems, trust he’s bigger than your problems...and you’ll sleep peacefully tonight.