When It's Time to Do Battle, Sleep.

You crouch behind your cover, heart beating wildly.  You look to the left.  There stands Temptation, slamming itself into the barriers you have built for your protection, attacking viciously.  You look to the right.  Complacency remains, menacing as ever, not moving much but slowly starving you out of hiding.  There are others, behind you, in front of you.  Greed, bitterness, lust, jealousy, pride... they are all there, waiting to devour you.  You're enemies are strong.  You've fought them before and lost.  Now they are many, surrounding you in great numbers.  With a sigh, you realize there is only one thing you can do.

So you lay down and go to sleep.

What?  Wasn't the ending you were expecting?  It certainly doesn't seem to make sense.  How would one have the peace of mind to fall asleep while in the face of such terrible danger?  Shouldn't they be out fighting or looking for a way to freedom?

Or perhaps praying to God to take away such things?

Ah, how many times have we asked God to do just that.  "God, please make me humble."  "Lord, please remove this temptation."  "Jesus, please give me patience."

We often get frustrated when such wishes are not granted, but in all honesty, we shouldn't be surprised. God is not a genie.  One look at the Bible will reveal to us that such behavior on God's part is not unusual.

God didn't stop the floods, He warned Noah to build the ark.  He didn't prevent Joseph from being sold into slavery or wrongly thrown in jail, but He slowly built him up to be a great leader from those humble places.  God didn't make the lions disappear when Daniel was thrown into their den, He simply closed their mouths.  God didn't give Jesus an easy way to save humanity, but He gave him the strength to face his death and the power to conquer it.

God doesn't remove all temptation and struggle from our lives, He gives us the strength and guidance to walk through it.  In doing so, He makes us into better people, while still showing His love for us.  Thus, we should have no reason to fear, even when our own perseverance fails us.

Even surrounded by numerous enemies, we can lie down and sleep peacefully, knowing that when we awake, we will still be safe.  Our demons cannot touch us, we have God on our side.  And if God is for us, who, then, can be against?

"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