By Elin Henderson
“It is good to give
thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare
Your loving kindness in the morning and your Faithfulness every night,”
Psalms 92:1-2
Every now and again, I find myself lying in
bed at midnight, wide awake with the clock ticking away. At those times I
wonder, “Is anyone else up now? Why can’t I just go to sleep?!” Whether I chalk
it up to hormones, caffeine, sugar, stress, or just plain age, I seem to be
having more LONG nights than I used to.
Long nights can leave you tired, irritable,
even make you physically sick. And yet, sometimes they are God’s chosen method
for teaching us things about Himself. More than once in Scripture, He uses a
long night as preparation for showing us His power in the morning.
Daniel (in Daniel, chapter 6) faced a VERY
long night in a pit with some not-so-nice leonine companions. King Darius
likewise faced an agonizing evening: “…his sleep went from him.” (Daniel
6:18b) But both of them, before the morning was over, knew God in an even
more intimate way.
Esther (in Esther, chapters 4-7) spent
several torturous nights trying to decide what to do to save her people. In the
end she decided to approach the king uninvited and concluded by saying, “If I
perish, I perish.” A little while later, when the time came to expose the
villain Haman, she faced a few more LONG nights before true freedom was found!
Jesus Himself faced the longest night that
any man has ever faced. It started in Gethsemane as He underwent emotional
torment thinking about the betrayal and crucifixion that was to come. He ended
by crying out to His father saying, “…not as I will, but as You will.” Then, after some long nights in the grave,
morning dawned and He arose, victorious over death and sin! (Matthew
28:1-8).
God uses the LONG nights to work out
something amazing. So the next time you find yourself up in the wee hours of
the night waiting for sleep that just won’t come, think back to some others who
have faced long nights and remember His faithfulness. And when your dawn
breaks, look for how He has done something miraculous in and through your life,
too.
GOING
DEEPER:
1. Can you think of
any other “late night or early morning” miracles in the Bible? What about in your own past?
2. Sometimes, life
can seem like a “long night” that just won’t end. How does knowing His work in
the LONG nights help us when we face these times? (Psalm
30:5b)
FURTHER
READING:
Oakwood’s
missionaries Elin Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as
church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa. Elin is mother to
twelve-year-old Callie and nine-year-old Elias. They are currently in America
on Home Assignment.
