Sunday, October 20, 2024 PM

around in the Psalms today to see what our Lord has for us tonight, but we'll start there.

Let's begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you again for tonight.

We thank you for the blessings that you give us as a good and heavenly Father who does not change but remains ever kind, ever patient, ever full of grace for us.

We thank you Lord for giving us all that we need and much much more. Thank you

Lord that in Jesus Christ we receive every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

We ask for your help tonight. We ask for your grace and for your mercy as we look into your word.

May we see Christ there and when we take your word and apply it to our lives and it's in Christ's name that we pray.

Amen. Have you ever had trouble sleeping and maybe it's not something that is a physical problem.

You're physically fine. It's not you had too much caffeine recently, but your soul is agitated.

You have a lot of worries, a lot of fears, possibly dealing with some guilt. It's a real problem in a fallen world.

We need sleep, but it can be hard to obtain and the Bible talks about this struggle.

In Job chapter 7 the afflicted man who's going through both physical pains as well as pains of the soul, he says in chapter 7,

So I've been allotted months of futility and wearisome nights have been appointed to me. When I lie down I say when shall

I arise and the night be ended for I've had my fill of tossing till dawn.

Wearisome nights are a real problem in this fallen world and some experience it even on a high level experiencing night terrors in the night in the morning or before they go to bed.

So with this problem before us what do we do? Where do we go for answers?

Where do we go for a solution? We go to the one sufficient true source that can help a troubled soul.

We go to the Word of God to hear the voice of Jesus Christ and to hear his solution for our troubled soul as we experience troubled nights.

It could be that we have trouble sleeping because something physically is wrong. We know from the

Word that we're made both body and soul. The two are joined together. They're not separated but interwoven by God's good design and the use of medicine is when it's used properly and wisely is a good thing.

A blessing from our Heavenly Father but no medicine can heal the soul. Only Jesus Christ can do that.

So now we come to his Word to learn what do we do in our troubled nights and the

Word of God tells us first that these troubled nights it's a time to meditate. Psalm 63 beginning in verse 1.

I invite you to read along with me. A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

Oh God you are my God early will I seek you my soul thirst for you my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water so I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory because your loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise you thus

I will bless you while I live I will lift up my hands in your name my soul shall be satisfied as with morrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips when

I remember you on my bed I meditate on you in the night watches because you have been my help therefore in the shadow of your wings

I will rejoice my soul follows close behind you your right hand upholds me here's a

Psalm of David and he finds himself in the wilderness it's quite possible that he's being hunted right now by his son

Absalom or by Saul the previous king so here's a man on the run hunted by his own government he finds himself in a wilderness do you think that David would have some trouble sleeping do you think that his soul would be agitated with fear and with worry

I definitely would think so but what do we see in this Psalm we see that David seeks the

Lord early in the morning in a dry and desert place he seeks the Lord and verses six and seven he says when

I remember you on my bed I meditate on you in the night watches because you've been my help therefore in the shadow of your wings

I will rejoice he remembers God he meditates on the

Lord of glory meditation is not the emptying of your mind not the clearing of your mind but it's the filling up of your mind with a particular subject or a particular person and here is

David filling up his mind with the Lord with the king of glory he's recalling

God and the character and actions of the Lord God has been David's help and the king rejoices in the shelter of God's wings and the divine protection and care that only the

Lord brings this is David's refuge and strength in his trouble and he finds peace during the night in his

Lord in his God he takes time in those troubled nights to meditate upon the

Lord turn over to Psalm 119 verse 49

Psalm 119 verse 49 we come to the longest of the

Psalms a Psalm that is dedicated exclusively to looking at the glories and various different aspects of the

Word of God itself and we read in verse 49 remember the words your servant upon which you have caused me to hope this is my comfort in my affliction for your word has given me life the proud have me in great derision yet I do not turn aside from your law

I remembered your judgments of old oh Lord and I've comforted myself indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked who forsake your law your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage

I remember your name in the night oh Lord and I keep your law this has become mine because I kept your precepts let's stop there so we see that the psalmist faces enemies and affliction of some sort but instead of falling into worry and fear he uses this situation as an opportunity to authentically turn to the

Lord and to find help in him he turns to God's Word and finds comfort in it

God's Word is his comfort in his pain for it has given him life spiritual life for by it he knows more of his

Lord and God's Word has been his song during his travels as a pilgrim he's walking through this land he's heading home and during his travels he sings the word of the

Lord it's his constant companion his song as he travels he finds real comfort in God's Word and actively calls upon it and calls it to mind

I remember your name in the night oh Lord and I keep your law it meditates upon his

Lord and upon the word of his Lord and of course we remember the words of Psalm 1 blessed is the man who delights in the law of the

Lord and in his law he meditates both day and night meditating all day and all night upon the word of the

Lord that man is blessed happy and content the man who delights in the word of the

Lord so during troubled nights what do you think about where does your heart go these songs show us that these are times to meditate to remember

God and to remember his word and to draw immense divine comfort from it from him it's also a time to worship turn over to Psalm 92

Psalm 92 beginning in verse 1 a

Psalm a song for the Sabbath day it is good to give thanks to the

Lord and to sing praises to your name O Most High to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night here's a

Psalm for the Sabbath day that weekly day of rest that day of trusting in the Lord to be enough and we see from the

Psalm this is a time to worship him the first two verses tell us that it's good to give thanks to God to practice that great spiritual discipline of thankfulness to bring

Thanksgiving to the one most high the one exalted and above everything the one who is all together other than all things to sum up in a word we could say that the

Lord is wholly completely other than everything else no one can match his glory or his majesty no one is on the same level as God he alone is holy it's also good to declare the

Lord's loving kindness in the morning rising up to meet a new day to enjoy that Sabbath rest to declare privately to yourself and to declare to others audibly the loving kindness of the

Lord the great covenant keeper and it's good to declare his faithfulness every night privately to yourself and publicly to others to speak of how

God has been faithful that is he always keeps a promise a promise made by God is a promise kept he never breaks the promise never he's always faithful and it's good to speak of how

God has worked wonders in the past for his people how he's always provided how he's always blessed he has been faithful and it's good during the night to bring up praises and worship to him and declare you have been faithful in this way in this way and in the other way the

Lord has always been faithful the nighttime is a time to declare the faithfulness of God both yourself and to those around you it's a time of worship a time to worship him who has always been faithful turn over to Psalm 134

Psalm 134 and yes we'll read the whole song a song of a sense behold bless the

Lord all you servants of the Lord who by night stand in the house of the Lord lift up your hang your hands of the sanctuary and bless the

Lord the Lord who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion here's a psalm of wonderful worship and praise and it's interesting to note when are the people praising the

Lord in his temple during the night instead of sleeping they're filled with joy with praise so instead of resting for the next day they go to the temple of the

Lord and they praise him because they're filled with zeal and with joy and they want to lift up praises to the

Lord and worship him he is always were worthy of our worship during the day and during the night and here the people of God want to worship their

Lord even during the night to simply praise the

Lord and bless his name the nighttime can be difficult for some who genuinely struggle but the scriptures have shown us that that is an appropriate and good time to worship especially during the troubled nights to lift up our hearts and the words of our mouth to praise the

Lord to bring him glory he is always worthy of our worship though we might go through a hard night or have an easy night he is always worthy of our worship the troubled nights are also a time of prayer turn over to Psalm 42 we'll read verse 8 of Psalm 42 the psalm says the

Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me a prayer to the

God of my life here's a psalm that shows one struggling with depression he is thirsting after God and feels as if he is drowning in much sorrow yet in all of that we see the man consistently and authentically turned to the

Lord with all of his sincere questions with all of his concerns and with all of his praises he comes to the

Lord and instead of listening to his depression he speaks truth to himself he proclaims truth to himself he says hope in God for I shall yet praise him why are you downcast oh my soul and in verse 8 he remembers that the

Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me a prayer to the

God of my life the sovereign of all things will with divine authority will send mercy upon mercy of his love on his people during the day he'll send his loving kindness continually and be their help during the daytime and in the night the psalmist says his song shall be with me a prayer to the

God of my life during the evening the depressed individual offers up a song a prayer to God he sings in the night a prayer he lifts up his heart and the words of his mouth to the

Lord who gives him life both physically and spiritually during the night when one is faced with depression and great affliction of the soul this is a time to pray to authentically truly turn to the

Lord and seek help from him sing praises to him and to commune with him genuinely to bring to God all of your sincere questions all of your worries all of your sadness and all of your praises to speak with the

Almighty and commune with him and we know that all of the Psalms have this wonderful blend of both praise and prayer the psalmist in every opportunity of life in every season they turn to the

Lord in times of joy and in times of sorrow in the daytime as well as of the nighttime we see that the psalmist always turns to the

Lord and that is the key for those who experience a troubled night turn to the

Lord and spend time with him seek help from him during those troubled nights and we know it's because of Jesus that we have access to God the

Father wherever we are at whatever time it's because of Jesus that we can come boldly to the throne of grace for help and hope during those times he in fact is our help and our hope because of Jesus these precious promises that we've just read are applied to us to those who believe in him who place their personal trust and faith in him as Savior for all the promises of God are yes in Jesus and we give our amen to him as creator of all things

Jesus Christ has made both the daytime and the nighttime and that's really interesting because before the fall before sin there was daytime and nighttime and God said it was good

Jesus is the maker both of the physical light and the physical darkness Jesus is still your priest and still your prophet during the troubled nights he's still there he's still working for you he's still interceding for you during the troubled nights he still cares and even the darkness is as light to him you cannot be hidden from his sight you are still in his hands the

Good Shepherd says no one will take you from my hand do you believe that in the troubled night do you believe that Jesus is faithful and he doesn't change he's the same yesterday today and forever

Jesus is still King during the night he still watches out and provides for his people during our troubled nights at the time to meditate upon God and his word it's a time to meditate upon the gospel and our

Lord Jesus Christ for we know that the word testifies of Christ he is its main subject so during the night it's a time to meditate upon him the

Son of God Jesus who is the Christ it's

Jesus who has delivered us from great darkness our own personal sin and from this dark fallen world and it's

Jesus who has taken upon himself the greatest darkness that one will ever experience the wrath of God and because he has done that we who believe in him will never face that darkness never but we look forward to seeing him when he appears not just with the eyes of faith but with resurrected eyes to see him and to be with him forever that is our glorious and bright hope in Jesus Christ a living hope in the living

Savior so now I like to talk about we've learned what the

Word of God has to say we've thought about Jesus Christ and now how do we take that and apply it to our lives in a concrete way and for that I think one application is to develop a bedtime routine and you might have that for your kids you might tell them brush your teeth get ready for bread make a prayer go to sleep that's their routine but what about for you what's your routine of turning to the

Lord authentically so I'd like to suggest to you a couple items and how you can create your own bedtime routine how you can turn authentically to the

Lord and seek him and help number one and this is the difficult one write down your fears your anxieties and anything you need to repent from Adam and Eve when they were found out for their sin sought to cover up their sin to hide away and to shift the blame for our own sin we should not do that we should confess it bring it to the

Lord bring it into the light and find forgiveness and cleansing in Jesus Christ and until we write those down and figure out what those specifically are we can't adequately deal with those by the light of Jesus Christ so we have to write those down ask the

Lord to search us and try us reveal in us any anxious thoughts or any evils that we have to turn or repent from and give that to the

Lord now we don't spend a whole lot of time there just enough to identify those and to bring those to the light of Jesus Christ so that he can cleanse us of those fears cleanse us of those worries and give us cleansing for our own sin if it's fear we struggle with let the

Word of God bring the right remedy when I am afraid I will trust in you if it's worry cast your anxieties and your worries upon the

Lord for he cares for you remember the words of your great

Savior don't worry about tomorrow your father knows what you need seek first the kingdom and all these things will be added unto you another scripture for fear that I have really been blessed and benefited by I sought the

Lord and he heard me and he delivered me from all my fears if it's guilt or shame you struggle with seek the

Lord Jesus Christ who has removed your guilt as far as the East is from the West he offers you forgiveness full and free he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness so make sure to go to bed with a clean conscience a purified conscience by the

Lord Jesus Christ number two scripture meditation consider reading a passage before you go to bed or on a little index card write down a passage that you want to meditate on or perhaps memorize writing it down can help the

Word of God be hidden in your heart and you actually learn to memorize the passages you write down it doesn't have to be a whole lot it doesn't have to be the entire book of living

Leviticus but maybe just one or two verses that will help you as you draw near to Jesus Christ during the night

I appreciate the words of Martin Luther who I know that he had some troubled nights himself as he faced it seemed like sometimes the entire world what was his solution he said once at night always carry in your heart something from holy scriptures to bed with you meditate upon it like a ruminant animal and go softly to sleep but this must not be too much rather a little that it may be well pondered and understood that you may find a remnant of it in your mind when you rise in the morning

I don't know if this story is true but I remember hearing a story about Martin Luther in the later years of his life he had written on his wall next to his bed

Psalm 46 so that it was the last thing he saw before he shut his eyes and went to sleep

I remember the story of Charles Spurgeon who had on his wall next to his bed blessed are you who are persecuted so he looked at that every morning as he arose and so for us when we experience troubled nights we have to take in God's word and let it direct our hearts and our minds and calm our agitated souls only it has the power to calm a soul to heal a soul number three prayer to simply pray and commune with the

Heavenly Father to pray to your Good Shepherd Jesus Christ you don't have to pray for like a whole lot of items but it'd be good to write down one or two things to pray for pray for something that's heavy on her mind or your heart or perhaps consider the needs of others and pray for someone else who can you pray for before you go to bed again it doesn't have to be a whole lot two maybe three items of prayer in that prayer numbers number four make sure to offer up Thanksgiving list out and write down two or three things that you can be thankful for and give praise to God for you can think back before you fall asleep how has

God been faithful to you today how has he provided how has he been faithful this last week this month this year and what ways has he provided for you and been gracious to you and what ways has he demonstrated your his love toward you

Thanksgiving and you'll find dear Christian that once you exercise that spiritual discipline of thankfulness more and more you'll find it very difficult to keep just two or three items of thankfulness but you'll be thinking about 10 20 50 things to be thankful for to the

Lord Jesus Christ because as you exercise that spiritual muscle it'll get stronger and stronger and it'll become more natural it'll become more of a habit to thank the

Lord and to turn to him during the nighttime another item to consider worship and praise to sing with your heart and to sing with your mouth if you live with the family singing audibly before you go to bed might not be the best thing but it could be and I would like to suggest to you it might be a good habit for you and your family sing a song of worship to the

Lord before you go to sleep together as a family so that you all might be attuned to Jesus Christ your hearts might be set upon him as you fall asleep but if you find yourself in the middle of the night and it's a hard one some might face night terrors you can't sing audibly to the

Lord try and find a place where you can quietly another place of the house maybe outside on your property somewhere and if you can't do that read a psalm read a spiritual song read a hymn sing with your heart if you can't with your mouth or get a nice pair of headphones and be edified by worship and praise of other brothers and sisters lifting up worship and praise to the

Lord and the last item remember

Jesus Christ risen from the dead of the seed of David according to the gospel remember

Jesus Christ the world right now needs the gospel right now you need the gospel and during those troubled nights make sure to preach the gospel to yourself

Jesus Christ has come and he has saved you from great darkness he has brought you into the kingdom of light his kingdom and you'll never be lost think on the glories of Christ what about Christ is most precious to you write that down before you go to sleep about the routine doesn't have to be super long we're not aiming to have like a

Puritan routine where it's like three or four hours long it can just be ten minutes five minutes the goal is not to trust in the routine or in the formation of routine it's a means of grace to draw close to Christ he is our goal whether we have a good night's sleep or not and I'd like to address that in closing what if a believer takes this practice takes this discipline and finds no immediate relief what if a believer tries these disciplines multiple times and nothing seems to happen right away there's no immediate relief

I think it's important to recognize that Jesus is our goal in this as a means of grace to draw close to him he is our goal more important than a good night's sleep actually

Jesus said that the father is mindful of all of our needs but seek first the kingdom and it's

Jesus who also quoted the scriptures and said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God and that's certainly true of our sleep as well too man shall not live by a good night's sleep but by the

Word of God so the goal is to rely upon Christ who provides for us our daily sleep and he will because he's a good shepherd and he knows what we need and he'll provide that every single time he'll take care of you he'll take care of not just your soul but your physical needs as well we are satisfied in Jesus alone whether we're granted a good night's rest or not and it's good to remember that in his sovereignty

God uses even our sleepless nights for his glory and for our good we remember the the story of Esther the historical story of Esther where the king couldn't sleep in chapter 6 and so he had the records of the kingdom read to him and God used that sleepless night to further the redemption plan in history to protect his people and to deliver them from a great threat just like that God uses your sleepless nights for his glory and for our good we might not know the reason this side of heaven but there's a reason for it take that time redeem that time and draw close to Christ and if you get up the next morning you've had no sleep your dog tired your soul will be refreshed and at peace in Jesus Christ he's the one who said come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest turn over to Psalm 91 let's have our

Good Shepherd have the last word Psalm 91 it begins in verse 1 he who dwells in the secret place of the

Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the

Lord he is my refuge and my fortress my God in him I will trust surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge his truth shall be your shield and buckler you shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall not come near you only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked because you have made the

Lord who is my refuge even the Most High your dwelling place no evil shall befall you nor shall any plague come near your dwelling for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone you shall tread under the lion and the

Cobra the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot because he has set his love upon me therefore

I will deliver him I will set him on high because he has known my name he shall call upon me and I will answer him

I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honor him with long life