Is this true?

I would like some input on something---from as many ppl as possible so that i can get a general consensus. There is a verse in the Bible (Psalms) that says, "God gives his beloved sleep". Well since i suffer from four sleep disorders, including severe chronic insomnia and chronic pain, i often don't sleep for days and weeks straight, etc etc. So this verse makes me then believe that God does not love me, for it is written that God gives his beloved sleep. Am i right? Are my thoughts the truth?

Today i feel ok but there are days when after no sleep for a long time these thoughts consume me and i feel total despair because of this verse. The less i sleep the farther from God i feel. Also, a Christian friend of mine is not able to sleep either, and after awhile tends to believe God doesnt care either. So if i cannot find hope for myself i cannot find hope for my friend or others to offer.

Enid, you are sounding a bit judgmental and presumptuous near the end of your reply; you jump to the conclusion that I DON'T read the Word and feed my mind when i can't sleep. Then you jump to the next wrong conclusion, stating that sleep WILL come if i read the Bible all night. Who are you to say? Your's is the attitude of one who has never suffered any disabling condition or severe chronic pain and who therefore has no understanding or empathy.

Again, i am NOT asking ANYONE for their supposed "solutions" or advice on how to get to sleep, i am only asking if my belief in regards to the verse/God is true.

And saying that as long as a person reads their Bible 24 hours a day all their troubles will go away is extremely naive.

Now who's jumping to conclusions?

Bye.

Hi Trekker,

I think you may have mis-understood Enid. I think she was trying to encourage you. Anyway she makes a good point about taking this scripture in context.

Look at it again:
"It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so He gives His beloved sleep".

So what it seems to be saying(IMO)is that deliberately staying awake long hours in order to worry or work is vain. Better to rest when we should knowing God looks after his children. Nothing to do with not being able to sleep for other reasons.

people who have no problem with sleep (like me) can often not understand those who have sleep problems and throw out scriptures like this out of context.

QUOTE: "Hi Trekker,
I think you may have mis-understood Enid. I think she was trying to encourage you."==HEYDAVE

I understood her perfectly. She started out well, but telling me to just go read my bible and everything would be fine was hardly encouraging, and it was judging and lacked empathy.

hi, i too suffer from sleep disorders... but i thought you were in pain brecause whenever you didagreed with one of my "brilliant" posts i would catch aa pain in my neck from you.lol i am sorry that you suffer so, and will be praying for you.love you!jimp
the joy of the Lord is our strength...

QUOTE: " [ I broke my back in a car accident, with spinal surgery that failed..] During that time, I took a medication called "Trazadone" that really helped me [ Dr. prescribed]. It seemed to be very clean, and I did not lose the Presence of the Lord with use.
Now, I use wine, before I sleep, to relax me.
"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities."==BROTHERTOM

Oh my. I'm so sorry. How are you now, with your back and all?I have been told by a lot of people that back surgery usually fails and it is only done as a very last resort by any doctor worth his salt. I cringe at the thought of the pain you must have endured all these years.My sleep problem is multi-faceted. The heat and humidity, acid reflux, postnasal drip from hell, back pain, hip pain, neck pain, shoulder pain(past),noise, mad bladder, headaches, and on and on and on. It's like being strangled or dragged through the streets all night. Sometimes i couldn't even tell you why i can't sleep, except i had a head trauma many years ago and that is when it all started. I have done all the sleep drugs and painkillers, they didnt work and almost killed me. Same goes for my Christian friend.

For relaxation you might want to try Magnesium Citrate, as that helps my muscles to relax and is much healthier than what the doctors would push on you. Well-meaning ppl have suggested i drink wine before bed too but i do not like the taste or smell of alcohol and since my parents drank alcohol i vowed i would never get drunk and am not about to put myself in danger of it. But there is no sin in having a glass before bed or with dinner, no.

Thank you for your assessment of that verse, i had never seen it that way and will have to ponder it in that light...

QUOTE: "hi, i too suffer from sleep disorders... but i thought you were in pain brecause whenever you didagreed with one of my "brilliant" posts i would catch aa pain in my neck from you.lol i am sorry that you suffer so, and will be praying for you.love you!jimp"==JIMP

Hahaha. The good news is i have absolutely no recollection of any post i may have disagreed with from you because i don't keep a record. I have often read and AGREED with a number of posts from Enid, and a week or two from now I will completely forget that she said that the solution to my chronic pain and insomnia is to read my Bible more; i'm not holding any grudge.Thank you for your prayers sweety.

Trekker

I have often struggled with sleep issues and so do two of my sons. When this happens I spend time reading my Bible and praying. I always felt that if I were awake anyway perhaps GOD has a reason for this so I go to HIM. I can tell you that for me and my sons it has helped every time.I don't mean to imply this is some kind of cure for your pain or sleep struggles just that it helped me and them in passing the time.

I understand it can be difficult, it has at times been for me. I spend some hours awake but they are spent with HIM and that is a great place to be. This has happened on many occasions but then there are times when I can sleep fine and I give thanks for those times as well.

I can say from my own personal understanding that the verse does not mean that GOD does not love us just because we have pain or because we can not sleep. I think the enemy always likes to get us to take our focus off of GOD by lying to us and telling us that JESUS does not love us. It is simply not true, GOD loves HIS children so much HE sent HIS only SON. Sometimes for me I need to be reminded that HE loves me and reading HIS WORD does help. I find now that there are seasons in my life with JESUS and when my pain flares and I can't sleep I figure there is a reason and I go to HIM. Look at it this way perhaps GOD loves you and me so much that HE just wants a bit more time with us ...that imagine always brings me comfort :)

The enemy wants us to believe GOD does not care because that pulls us as you mentioned further away from the LORD.

Will pray for you
God Bless
maryjane

Edited: wanted to be more clear with my thoughts.

Today i feel ok but there are days when after no sleep for a long time these thoughts consume me and i feel total despair because of this verse. The less i sleep the farther from God i feel.

Hi Trekkor, I appreciate your courage in sharing and expressing your thoughts. Sleep deprivation is the cause of much secret suffering – not just physically, but emotionally too. It makes you feel intensely vulnerable, deprived of the means to rise above the challenges that come your way.

No doubt you are not short on advice from the Job’s friend-types. And you know how that only intensifies your sense of hopelessness and frustration. This is why your desire for a consensus is probably not a good idea. You may end up feeling worse.

Sleep deprivation is complex, and when you have that condition, you are more vulnerable to thoughts and suggestions that merely aggravate your problem. You realize all the more that you can’t muster up enough faith to rise above your condition. (I’m saying that from personal experience.) But then, it’s not about what you can or can’t do. And that may very well be the most valuable lesson gained through this trial. You are moving towards Christ-dependency.

Regarding the psalm verse you quote about sleep, you would do well to consider the whole picture, not just extract a verse. The idea is that, even when surrounded by threatening enemies, the psalmist is not lying awake in fear. He feels secure in God. It is not helpful to extract the verse and use it as a diagnostic tool. That may merely intensify your frustration and you become more and more self-absorbed. That’s exhausting!

Also, a Christian friend of mine is not able to sleep either, and after awhile tends to believe God doesnt care either. So if i cannot find hope for myself i cannot find hope for my friend or others to offer.

Trekkor, may God lead you into green pastures and beside quiet waters. And may you feel his big arms of love surrounding you.
Diane

Trekker,

I understood that you wanted input on that verse from the psalms, which is why I wrote what I did. I just wanted you to know that you should not feel unloved by God because of that verse, because it is not saying what you have taken it to mean.

JIG wrote: "P.S. Enid is a male".
I appologise Enid. Enid is an old fashioned womans name, so I have always picctured you as some elderly lady.:) Shows the problem of on-line discussions!!
BTW- why did you delete you post?

Just want to give a bit of a different perspective.

In the second half of this short Psalm (127) it speaks of children being a heritage of the Lord and blessed is the man whose quiver is full.

A dear friend of mine has 8 children. In speaking of that time when you loose a lot of sleep getting up and down during the night, the verse you mention brought her a great deal of comfort. You see, for her, it was not what she was experiencing at the moment but a promise that she WOULD get sleep. The Lord would not leave her without sleep forever.

Have a blessed day!

(Caps for emphasis not yelling ;) .)

Trekker,
I'm sorry for what you are going through. Another way to relax is to drink rosebuds/rose petals water. It helps you sleep better. Alternative is milk.

Rosehips is a good source of Vitamin C.

Trekker, so you want an interpretation of this verse and not any possible solution?

QUOTE:
______________________________________________________________

So this verse makes me then believe that God does not love me, for it is written that God gives his beloved sleep. Am i right? Are my thoughts the truth?
______________________________________________________________

No, I do not think you are right. Another poster addressed this question and I do not have anything else to add to it.

Sleep disorders are a part of the curse of sin, like sickness is, and is something we have to wrestle with. As you age, the problem gets worse. When we were tending to our babies THEY kept us awake, but now that we are older there are other issues. There are also things we do that will trigger these disorders, so it does behoove me to find out what I am doing to cause this problem. Since this is the case for me it does not work well to blame God for something I do that is causing my problem.

I have had sleep disorders and what did I do for it? I will discuss long-term solutions.

I am 65 YO, have been healthy most of my life and still am, actually, for the most part. But as my body is aging it is trying hard to tell my brain that it no longer has the ability to do the things that was easy and simple twenty years ago. It is screaming at me to SLOW DOWN. Now I have to deal with arthritis in my hips and shoulder. In addition to this there were periods of time in the past when I could not sleep for no apparent reason. When these episodes occurred I worked hard to discover what may be triggering them, like Tom said about his experience. So, for me, what was a trigger and what worked?

I discovered I am allergic to perfumes. They will interfere with sleep. While I had been using unscented shampoo for years, I got my husband to use it as well. Since we sleep in close proximity of each other, this helped a lot! Perfume use can trigger other reactions. I had to go to buying unscented TP, laundry detergents, Ivory soaps, unscented deodorant, etc. Scented items caused other disorders. Eliminating them from my home proved to help a lot.

Then there is the problem of emotional issues. Am I upset, mad at something, somebody? Now this will rob you of sleep for sure...remember the verse "to not allow the sun to go down on your wrath?" Practical advice, there.

I have also learned that if we go to bed without spending some time in the WORD and praying my night will be restless as well.

And then there is your husband. Don't allow anything to interfere in this relationship. Give yourself to him and allow him to love you as he loves.

Having said all this, there could still be other issues that will work at depriving one of sleep. If this is the case I would ask the LORD for insight to see if there is anything I am doing to cause this and if there is that He would give me the grace to deal with it. If it is something that I cannot fix, ask God for his intervention.

God bless you, sister.

ginnyrose

QUOTE: "No doubt you are not short on advice from the Job’s friend-types. And you know how that only intensifies your sense of hopelessness and frustration. This is why your desire for a consensus is probably not a good idea. You may end up feeling worse."==ROADSIGN

Ha! You read my mind! As a matter of fact, earlier tonight i flipped my Bible and it just happened to land open in the book of JOB, to the verse where he said, "Miserable comforters are ye all." Job 16, i think it was. !!

You are right. But i was NOT asking for advice on how to get to sleep, i was asking whether something was TRUE. Too many people don't know how to listen i guess. Thank YOU for understanding though. I never thought that anyone on here would assume that though i have been a devout Christian for many, many years that it would never have occurred to me to pray or to read my bloody Bible! Like, duh. I think that was what i did when i found the verse with which i started this thread in the first place.

qUOTE: Just want to give a bit of a different perspective.
In the second half of this short Psalm (127) it speaks of children being a heritage of the Lord and blessed is the man whose quiver is full.A dear friend of mine has 8 children. In speaking of that time when you loose a lot of sleep getting up and down during the night, the verse you mention brought her a great deal of comfort. You see, for her, it was not what she was experiencing at the moment but a promise that she WOULD get sleep. The Lord would not leave her without sleep forever.Have a blessed day!==SCHMILY

Interesting take. It could also be said though--and has been said to me--'We can sleep after we're dead'. Some would say THAT should comfort an insomniac but trust me, it does NOT.
And after all i have been through i am convinced i won't even be allowed to sleep then! (I'm thinking maybe i should be cremated cuz otherwise some cemetary caretaker is gonna fer sure come along with his riding lawnmower and wake me up!!)

QUOTE:
"i was asking whether something was TRUE. Too many people don't know how to listen i guess. Thank YOU for understanding though. I never thought that anyone on here would assume that though i have been a devout Christian for many, many years that it would never have occurred to me to pray or to read my bloody Bible! Like, duh. I think that was what i did when i found the verse with which i started this thread in the first place."

Could you please reread this again, Trekker...I know you wrote it, but it is revealing....