The Cure for Insomnia
The Cure for Insomnia - Audio/Visual (@21:40)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. (Psalm 23:1-3)
It afflicts 70 million Americans for which 38,000 deaths are attributed each year. The condition costs the U.S. $70 billion in productivity, annually. Teenagers suffer from it – 64% of them blame it for their poor grades. The middle-aged face it – researchers say the most severe cases occur between ages 30 and 40. Even senior citizens are not immune – it impacts 50% of the 65-and-over population. Treatments for the condition include everything from rubbing a dog’s earwax onto your teeth, to drinking various herbal teas, or even slathering the fat of a mouse on the soles of your feet. It’s a modern epidemic, but it’s far from a new problem. It’s insomnia. We just can't seem to get to sleep.
For most of my life I laughed at the thought of having sleep difficulties. Not anymore. Nor do I question the inclusion of the verse about rest contained in the 23rd Psalm – “He makes me to lie down in green pastures.” (Ps. 23:2) People with too much work and too little sleep stumble over to the baggage carousel of life and grab the suitcase of exhaustion. But it’s not the kind of suitcase you can carry. You can’t even roll it to your ride. You drag it around like a lazy Lab because weariness wearies. But why are we so tired? We long for the life of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer on the Mississippi but look at us – we’re riding the white waters of the Colorado with forks in the river and rocks in the water threatening us with heart attacks, betrayal, credit card debt and custody battles. Huck and Tom didn't have to face those challenges, but we do. And they keep us awake at night.
Making matters worse, there’s a second problem. If 70 million Americans aren't sleeping enough, what does that mean? It means that almost one in four of us are either dozing off at work, napping through class, or sleeping at the wheel. Thirty tons of aspirin, sleeping pills and tranquilizers are consumed every day to treat the condition. It’s as if the gas gauge on the dashboard of our lives says empty. And were we to invite someone to solve our problem they’d likely suggest that we simply get some more sleep. But then we'd laugh because, clearly, he or she doesn't understand the way we work. We work hard. There’s money to be made; degrees to be earned; ladders to be climbed. In our way of thinking, busyness is next to godliness. We idolize someone like Thomas Edison, who claimed to live on 15-minute naps, and give short shrift to someone like Albert Einstein who averaged 11 hours of sleep a night. Back in 1910, Americans slept nine hours a night; today we sleep seven and we’re proud of it. But pride has its price. Our minds are tired. Our bodies are tired. And more to the point, our souls are tired.
We are eternal creatures, and we ask eternal questions: Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life? What is right? What is wrong? Is there life after death? These are the primal questions of the soul. And left unanswered, these questions steal our rest. Only one other living creature has as much trouble resting as we do, and it’s not a dog because they doze. It’s not a bear either – bears hibernate. Cats invented the catnap, and sloths slumber 20 hours a day. Most animals know how to rest. There is one exception, however, and these creatures are woolly, simpleminded and slow – and no, it’s not your husband. They’re sheep, and sheep can't sleep.
For sheep to sleep, everything has to be just right. No predators. No tension in the flock. No bugs in the air. No hunger in the stomach. Everything has to be just so. Unfortunately, sheep can’t find safe pasture, nor can they spray insecticide, deal with sheep skirmishes or even find food for themselves. They need help. They need a shepherd to lead them and help them to "lie down in green pastures." Without a shepherd, they just can't rest. And without a shepherd, neither can we. So, in the second verse of the 23rd Psalm, David-the-poet becomes David-the-artist. His pen becomes a brush, and his words paint a picture of a flock of sheep on folded legs, encircling a shepherd with full bellies nestled deep in the long, cool, green grass. A still pond on one side, the watching shepherd on the other. "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters." (Psalm 23:2)
Note the two pronouns preceding the two verbs, i.e., He makes me, and He leads me. Did you notice who the active one is here? It’s the shepherd. The shepherd selects the trail and prepares the pasture. The sheep's job is to focus on the shepherd. And with our eyes on our Shepherd, we'll be able to get some sleep. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you." (Isa. 26:3) Interestingly, of the 10 declarations carved into the stone tablets, which one occupies the most space? Murder? Adultery? Stealing? You'd think so since each is certainly worthy of ample coverage. Curiously, however, these commands are tributes to brevity; God needed only 5 English words to condemn adultery, and 4 to denounce thievery and murder. But when he came to the topic of rest, not even a sentence was good enough.
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
God knows us so well because he can just see the business owner reading these verses and musing, "But somebody needs to work that day. If I can't, then my son will." So, God says no, not your son. "Then my daughter will." No, not your daughter, either. "Then maybe an employee." Nope, not an employee. “My therapy dog?” No. "A stranger, then?” Again, no. One day of the week you will say no to work and yes to worship. You will slow down, sit down, lie down and rest. Still, we object. "But ... but ... but ... who’s going to run the business?" "What about my grades?" "What about my sales quota?" We offer up one excuse after another, but God silences them all with a poignant reminder: "In six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested." God's message is plain: if creation didn't crash when God rested, it won't crash when you do, either.
But then again, maybe we work so hard and rest so little because we feel like we’re invisible. You know, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while you’re on the phone and ask what’s for dinner. And in your head, you’re thinking, “Can't you see that I'm on the phone?” Obviously not; no one can see if you’re on the phone, cooking a meal, mowing the lawn or even standing on your head in the corner for that matter, because no one can see you at all. It’s as if you’re invisible.
In the book, Great Cathedrals, by Bernhard Schutz, he describes, in remarkable detail, the great cathedrals of Europe. His hardcover book covers the major Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals in France, England, Germany, Italy and Spain. In it, there are over 300 color photographs showing the cathedrals both inside and out, including close-up architectural and sculptural details that, when combined with the author’s text, give you a “virtual” tour of these magnificent buildings. And although you may not have the time to read this 8 lb., 472-page tome, even a brief skimming of its pages will reveal the cathedrals’ beauty in the simplicity of what they represent.
For instance, no one can say who actually built the great cathedrals because there’s no record of the general contractor who was responsible for their construction. Nevertheless, the builder gave his or her whole life to a work they would never see finished, and made unbelievable sacrifices without ever expecting to receive the credit. The passion of their construction was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A story of legend in Great Cathedrals tells of a rich man who came to visit a cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny, little bird on the inside of a beam. The rich man was puzzled and asked the artist, “Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it!” Looking down from his scaffold, and with the utmost faith and sincerity, the workman humbly replied, “Because God sees.”
God sees. And God sees you. He sees the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no tire you’ve ever changed, no Girl Scout meeting or last-minute errand is too small for God not to notice. You’re building a great cathedral – you just can’t see right now what it will eventually become. Rather than feeling invisible, exhausting yourself in an attempt to be seen, you are, instead, a great builder. You’re the one who shows up at the job you’ll never see finished, to work on something that your name will never be on. Imagine being a 14th century bricklayer. You work your entire life adding a few more feet to a wall of a building that you’ll never see completed. “What does it matter?” you say. Well, if you’ve ever seen the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which took nearly 200 years to finish, you know why it matters. The truth is that cathedrals could never have been built in a single person’s lifetime largely because there were so few people willing to sacrifice to the same degree as the builder.
We’re building great cathedrals with God’s help. The thing is that you can’t always be seen doing it, especially if you’re doing it right. But one day, the world may marvel at not only what you’ve built with God’s help, but at the beauty that’s been added to the world because of the sacrifices of “invisible” servants like you. And even if you’re not the 8th wonder of the modern world, God knows because “… we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Cor. 3:9) So, build God’s house and rest in the fact that “… the things we see now will soon be gone, but the invisible will last forever.” (2 Cor. 4:18) And then try to get some sleep.
Grace,
Randy
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