By Ashlie Miller
It’s 4:00 a.m. After unsuccessfully wrestling myself back to sleep, then spending time praying or listening to the YouVersion Bible app, I open up the Facebook app, and it is evident – I am not the only one awake this early. For some, it is part of the unexpected joys of hitting midlife, for others, it is anxiety over life’s issues, or it may be a bizarre question that needs answering at 2:30 a.m.
I find myself in the company of several others lately who commiserate with me. We lean into each other with advice: “What is your sleep hygiene routine?” We offer encouragement: “It is amazing how God continues to give us strength to make it on a given day with so little sleep.” We wonder at what we would have accomplished on 4-5 hours of sleep a couple of decades ago, when we had more strength and vitality. We joke: “Well, I’ll just text you when I wake up at 3:00 a.m., because you’ll probably be awake, too.”
How often do you consider that God never sleeps or slumbers and can meet us amid the storm, even in the latest hours of the night (or would that be the earliest hours of the day)? In Matthew 14, Jesus and the disciples have experienced grief from the brutal murder of a dear friend (John the Baptist), followed by a full day of miraculous ministry (feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish). Surely, they need a moment to get away, to grieve, to recover from even the emotional high of the day. Jesus goes away from the crowd and His disciples to pray, but not before sending the disciples into a boat to go ahead of Him to the other side of the lake, where He will do ministry the next day. The ship is far from land, tossed and turned in the wind and waves, and suddenly, they see – is it – a ghost?! The disciples were often blind to what was true and what Christ was saying to them. Even after a miracle and being around Jesus all day, they do not recognize Him and believe the worst spiritual thing they can imagine. But, here is Jesus in the 4th watch of the night (that’s 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.), inviting Peter to walk on water, rescuing him when he begins to drown, and then entering the boat with him as He simultaneously calms the wind and the sea.
While familiar with this real-life illustration of Jesus’ presence in the midst of our storms, this small detail regarding the time of the encounter – the 4th watch of the night – has been an added comfort to me lately. There is never a bad time to be with Jesus, even if it’s an invitation to test your faith, rescue you from drowning, and then calm the raging waters around you. He gets in the boat with us. The storms may still threaten to capsize us. He is no less mighty. He is still there. Maybe you are blessed with solid sleep. When are those inconvenient times that He meets you and invites you? His omnipresence is a blessing for those in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you know how to have peace even when sleep is fleeting?
Ashlie Miller averages a couple sleep-interrupted nights per week in Concord, NC. Email her sometime around 3:00 a.m. at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com.
