421 -- Sweet, Sweet Sleep
(For Better or Verse: Each day in 2025 I will begin this Godsfield e-mail with a Bible verse that corresponds with the month (chapter 1-12) and day (verse 1-31) it is sent. This month features a lot of third chapters! Those with eyes and ears, let them see and hear.)
Proverbs 3:24 When you sit down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
What keeps you up at night? Fear, worries, problems, troubles, spicy foods?
Wisdom, which God gives to the faithful, will clear that deck (especially the wisdom to not eat the spicy food just before bed!), because it puts all things in the lap of God who brings calm, solution, resolve, forgiveness and blessing.
The unbeliever may have prudence, a God-given ability to see things and make decisions that benefit, but it is the faithful one who receives wisdom from God, the ability to discern the hand of God upon us and see the pathway clear, as God reveals it.
At least, that's what it says.
And I believe it, even though I see sin still smearing its chocolate pudding hand prints all over the window that shows me the path. Yes, sin will do all it can to obstruct the view, but it cannot deny the promise that God is with us.
That means sitting down without fear (no matter how hard it is on the knees to get back up), and it means sleep that is sweet. Medicine may offer a c-pap, but God offers the Sweet Sleep-pap!
Last night, bathed in reassuring green lighting, Linden Road offered stories and prayers that touched the variety of life's needs in Godsfield. Members read personal stories about students, homelessness, first responders, addiction, military, widows and orphans, each followed with a prayer for those effected.
Gentle worship songs were interspersed and blessings from attendees to the congregation were heartfelt. I went up to invite the blessings, and to explain the buggy wheel (we are the spokes, Christ is the hub) and found the surrounding conducive to reflection on seven years, 90 churches and 290 March of Prayer services, and the effect God has had us each of us, now seven years older than when we started, not just the old getting older, but the young growing up.
And while life's events have Marched on through those years, we are more fully aware of God's hand on all of us, because of this. Buildings, organizations, businesses and churches come and go, but the Hub keeps us close to each other, by being close to him.
Knowing that Hub is what allows for sleep to be sweet.
Love ya,
Paul