Sometimes We Just Need to Sleep
I'm writing this morning from my daughter and son in law's house in Richmond, VA. They will be moving this week to Charleston, S.C. Yesterday was a long day. I preached in the morning, and then Rae and I took off for the Orlando airport. We had to drop the car off at a parking garage and take a shuttle to the airport. Even with all the covid19 considerations we got through security and to our gate with plenty of time to spare. The flight was on time and we then had a brief layover in Atlanta before the final leg of the trip to Richmond. We arrived at Richmond on time at 9:50 p.m. By the time we got to our daughter's house and visited awhile before bed, it was almost midnight.
I'm usually up and having my devotions no later than 6:30a.m. I awoke at 4:30 and decided that was too early. I awoke again at 6 a.m., but was still very groggy. As I prepared to get up I sensed God saying to me, "I'll see you at 8:30." I gratefully went back to sleep and met with God at 8:30 this morning.
All of this reminded my of Elijah's story. After his "God-fight" on Mt. Carmel, he ran a marathon (a little over 26 miles) when he heard that Jezebel had put a hit out on him. He finally became so distressed that he prayed for God to kill him. God's response was to cause him to fall asleep. When he woke up there was breakfast waiting for him. After he ate, he fell asleep again and awoke again to more food. The bottom line is that whe we become stressed out to the point of despair, we need to pay attention to our physical needs such is rest and replenishment. During this pandemic, I have stressed over the fact that much of my function as pastor is no loner possible. I can't visit people; I can't meet with groups or committees, or my deacons. I have stressed over what we should do next as a church and over whether or not we would meet our budget. In the midst of all that, we had a lightening strike that fried our sound system. We had to go through filing an insurance claim, which was immediately accepted and we were able to begin almost immediately getting the system replaced. All of this to say, without being aware of it, I was getting stressed out. This morning my gracious God said, "Enough! Take a nap. Get nourished; breathe. Sometimes what we all need is just a little more sleep. Cut yourself some slack. Let God replenish your body and soul.
All of this reminded my of Elijah's story. After his "God-fight" on Mt. Carmel, he ran a marathon (a little over 26 miles) when he heard that Jezebel had put a hit out on him. He finally became so distressed that he prayed for God to kill him. God's response was to cause him to fall asleep. When he woke up there was breakfast waiting for him. After he ate, he fell asleep again and awoke again to more food. The bottom line is that whe we become stressed out to the point of despair, we need to pay attention to our physical needs such is rest and replenishment. During this pandemic, I have stressed over the fact that much of my function as pastor is no loner possible. I can't visit people; I can't meet with groups or committees, or my deacons. I have stressed over what we should do next as a church and over whether or not we would meet our budget. In the midst of all that, we had a lightening strike that fried our sound system. We had to go through filing an insurance claim, which was immediately accepted and we were able to begin almost immediately getting the system replaced. All of this to say, without being aware of it, I was getting stressed out. This morning my gracious God said, "Enough! Take a nap. Get nourished; breathe. Sometimes what we all need is just a little more sleep. Cut yourself some slack. Let God replenish your body and soul.
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