Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 31:23-40
Sleep. One of the most basic of human functions, and one of the most complex that we have. We need sleep for many vital and necessary functions. Sleep is needed for our body to repair and restore the essential functions of daily life. Sleep is essential for our mental and emotional stability. Sleep is essential for all aspects of our well being and life. As a pharmacist I can see that there’s so many people who are afflicted with the inability to sleep. In the last 19 years of my practice I’ve seen many individuals who are needing assistance going to sleep or to be at peace. It is interesting to see such a vital part of who we are and can be very elusive.
One of the most interesting aspects of parenthood is the transition of your sleep. I remember when Jillian and I were first expecting our first child, many people would tell us to get your sleep and “take naps when the children take naps“. As young adults we were naïve and didn’t understand the rationale of the sentiments of this new information. But within the first couple of weeks we could really understand that every point of rest and sleep that we could get we cherished.
For a while, in the earlier phase of our parenthood, we had some difficult times with rest and sleep. One of my aunts and prayer warriors told me a trick. She told me to pray intentionally for rest and not sleep. We offer interchange sleep and rest. But there is a difference: sleep is the act and rest is the restoration of the body. She informed me to pray for 8 hours of rest in 1 hour if sleep. So that no matter how much sleep I received, the body was rested and ready for whatever was coming.
In today’s passage, Jeremiah has been given a vision in a dream. Most of the time after God has revealed something amazing in the Bible, the prophet will react in a normal fashion of speaking to the people. But the profound thing about this vision is that he states
Jeremiah 31: 23-26
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes:
“‘The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness,
O holy hill!’
24 And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25 For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
Wow. This is something that I had passed over several times and it didn’t occur to me that sleep being pleasant was not the norm. I sometimes take for granted the ability to lay my head down and get rest. For many, they are not able to have this rest. For many they are struggling with so many different things that they are not able to be at peace.
The prayer for this week is to pray for peace and the ability for the ones that we are close to know the peace of God and allow the Spirit of God grant them peace and rest every time they lay down for sleep.
Be blessed