January 13, 2025 Devo

January 13th, 2025

“Walking Through the Psalms”
“I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me. I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side.” – Psalm 3:5-6 (NLT)
“A Nighttime Prayer”

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Did you ever pray that prayer as a kid? I did. It may have been the earliest prayer I ever learned. It’s actually a childhood version of a prayer written by a guy by the name of George Wheler in 1698 found in “The Protestant Monastery.” Who the heck teaches kids to think about dying just before they go to sleep? No wonder so many of us are in therapy!
We already have enough fears running around in our heads when we go to bed. We’re reliving all of our chaos from the day. We’re second-guessing the decisions we made. We’re wishing we could take back some of the things we said or did. We’re anxious about things we messed up, people we let down, and things we’re afraid we didn’t get right. Nighttime can be like watching a horror movie. Except we are the victims running for our lives from the monster of today’s failure. And don’t even get me started about what happens when TOMORROW’S fears kick in!
That’s why I like David’s psalm better than the nighttime prayer I learned. It reminds us that the Lord watches over us while we sleep. We can put all of today’s troubles and tomorrow’s fears in His Hands and let Him hold them while we rest. We can snuggle under the blanket of God’s Grace and let our failures fade into the sunset of His forgiveness. We can rest our heads on the pillows of His Power and His Promises. And we can turn out the bright light of anxiety called tomorrow knowing that God is already there working on our behalf. And even if, like David, we feel as if we’re surrounded by a thousand enemies, we can sleep in complete assurance. The One who is with us is more than those who are against us.
So let’s rewrite our little childhood prayer, shall we? “Now I lay me down to sleep, I thank you God for your love so deep. Give my soul rest as I trust in your grace, and I know you’ll be there waiting for me when I awake.” Now THAT’S a nighttime prayer of a Child of God! That’s God’s Word for you today.