He gives His beloved sleep!

(Arthur Pink)

"He gives His beloved sleep." Psalm 127:2

How often is it lost sight of, that the Lord cares for the bodies of His saints - as well as for their souls. Sleep is a Divine gift - -but the nightly recurrence of it blinds us to the fact. Sleep is as imperative for our physical well-being - as is food and drink. Sleep is as much the gift of our heavenly Father, as is the other.

When it so pleases Him, God withholds sleep - and then we have to say with the Psalmist, "You kept my eyes from closing." Psalm 77:4. But that is the exception rather than the rule - and deeply thankful should we be that it is so. Day by day the Lord feeds us - and night by night, "He gives His beloved sleep."

We should perceive the gracious hand of God ministering in tenderness to all of our daily needs. He is mindful of our frailty - and tempers His dealings with us accordingly. He is aware when our energies are spent, and graciously renews our strength and mercifully refreshes our bodies with sleep.

Alas, how little are we affected by the Lord's goodness and grace unto us. The unfailing recurrence of His temporal and spiritual mercies - incline us to take them for granted. So dull of understanding are we, so cold our hearts Godward - it is to be feared that most of the time we fail to realize whose loving hand it is, which is ministering to us.

Is not this the very reason why we do not begin to really value our health - until it is taken from us? It is not until we spend night after night tossing upon a bed of pain - that we perceive the worth of regular sleep with which we were formerly favored. And such vile creatures are we, that when illness and insomnia come upon us, instead of improving the same by repenting of our former ingratitude - we murmur and complain at the hardness of our present lot, and wonder what we have done to deserve such treatment!

O let those of us who are still blessed with good health and regular sleep - not fail to daily return thanks for such privileges, and earnestly seek grace to use the strength from them to the glory of God!
 

"Let us thank God for common mercies - for they prove to be uncommonly precious, when they are once taken away!" Charles Spurgeon