I've just put my younger son Nathan to bed. He was really over tired, cranky and sad. Throwing tantrums over the smallest things; apparently teeth brushing is tantamount to torture... Above all, he wanted to not go to bed... Unfortunately, this was the only thing that could improve the situation, so Mummy just had to persevere and get the little man into bed. Once he'd calmed down, he went to sleep in about ten seconds.
It got me thinking: how often do we do the same thing? How many problems that we get ourselves worked up about; seemingly disastrous occurrences; could actually be improved by a good night's sleep? How often do we worry needlessly, when we should really just go to bed?
There's a story in the Bible that I find really encouraging that's found in 1 Kings 19. In a nutshell, Elijah has been very busy doing some awesome stuff for God, but then the King (a nasty piece of work called Ahab) and Queen (an equally nasty piece of work called Jezebel) find out about it, and threaten to kill Elijah. He does what we'd all feel like doing in this situation - runs away and hides...
He then goes to sleep, and then is visited by an angel who basically tells him to eat, and then rest again, giving him the food that he needs. God knew that Elijah was good for nothing without adequate food and sleep. Remind you of anyone?
It's only after this that he goes and meets with God who comforts him and shows him the way forward.
I hope that little by little I might be learning which disasters need immediate attention, and which only need me to trust them to God and go to sleep. God knows, I too am good for nothing without adequate food and rest.
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