Psalm 77

I heard of a man once who said that he frequently "worked the nightshift."

And he wasn’t talking about his job.

He was talking about worrying. All night long. He could have been reciting this Psalm, "I moan," verse 3, "[I am] overwhelmed ... [I] long[] for [your] help[, O God]."

"You [w]on’t let me sleep," he cries out to the heavens in verse 4. "I am too distressed even to pray," he cries. "5 I think of the good old days ... 6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul ... . 7 Has the Lord rejected me forever? 8 Is his ... love gone for [eternity]? 9 Has God ... slammed the door on his compassion?" Have you ever worked the nightshift too?

At any given time, it seems like I know one or two or three people who are waiting for laboratory test results. In the light of day, they can usually summon rational thoughts and bravely trust that all things will eventually work together for good for those who love God (see Romans 8:28). But in the dark of night, fears seem to crawl like monsters beneath a four-year-old’s bed.

Therefore, it’s never bad advice to borrow a familiar refrain from The Sound of Music. In the midst of a storm and a moment of worry, the von Trapp children were urged to call to mind a few of their favorite things. However, rather than thinking about "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens," the Psalmist invites us to "11 recall all [that] you have done, O Lord."

When he says, "11 I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. 12 They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about them," the Psalmist is showing us a wonderful antidote to worry. For the people of Israel, the remembrance that frequently reconstructed a semblance of boldness in them was, "when the Red Sea saw you, O God," verse 16, "its waters ... trembled." What’s the remembrance of God’s presence in your life that reinvigorates your hopes and dreams. What’s the reflect that reminds you to cry, "You were with me before, O God. Therefore, I trust that you will be with me again. So ... now I lay me down to sleep ..."

It’s human to worry. We’ve done it before. We’ll do it again. But this Psalm reminds us that we don’t have to be alone in the dark because "God is light and in him there is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).

"You were with me before, O God.

Therefore, I trust that you will be with me again.

So now I lay me down to sleep ..."

Indeed, O God, I offer before you right now

what I would like to put to rest in my life ...