How to Use Scripture on the Nights You Just Can’t Sleep
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I wonder how many people like me are out there, quietly waiting for sleep to come. Many nights, I wake up after just a few hours of sleep; although I feel tired, I lay in bed for what feels like forever, waiting. About 10% of people suffer from insomnia globally, and many more face occasional sleeplessness.
Insomnia is used to describe a persistent sleep disorder, where sleeplessness regularly impairs daytime functionality. But people also use the term to describe sleeplessness in general. The following categories of insomnia bring some clarity:
- Transient insomnia lasts several nights
- Short-term insomnia lasts 2–3 weeks
- Chronic insomnia means you sleep poorly most nights
For me, any of these types of insomnia are frustrating. I definitely experience daytime functional impairment — I feel fatigued throughout the day, especially when I haven’t slept well for a few days in a row. I take what I call “involuntary naps” — my body is telling me I must sleep now, or else! Even if I have important work to do.
Insomnia is hard on the body and mind. It also can both reflect and affect our emotional and spiritual state.
Steps for Sleepless Nights
Sometimes sleeplessness and insomnia are triggered by anxiety or stress. If you’re experiencing several sleepless nights in a row, it’s probably time to ask God what you might be holding onto that is worrying you.
Paul has some useful instructions for bringing big and small worries to God:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
Note that Paul says “do not be anxious” as though it were a choice we can make! Rather than saying we should never acknowledge the emotion of worry, I believe Paul is instructing us to not dwell in anxiety and ruminate on things outside our control.
And he doesn’t stop by telling us what not to do. He continues with instructions about what we should do instead — pray, petition God, give thanks, and present our requests.
Paul says that through these active choices, we can receive the peace of Christ that guards our hearts and minds.
So, if you’re tossing and turning at night, here are some steps you can take:
1. Consider whether worry or anxiety might be keeping you up
2. Identify the source of your worry and anxiety — but don’t dwell there long!
3. Pray and petition God for help in countering your anxiety and sleeplessness
4. Give thanks for God’s goodness and faithfulness in any ways you can think of (sometimes I challenge myself to think of a certain number of blessings, kind of like counting sheep!)
5. Present your request to God — tell him what you would like to see happen
6. Receive the peace of Christ
I’ll note that these steps are hard to take if you’re also trying to scroll on your phone, watch TV, listen to the radio, etc.! Getting your mind to focus well enough to think through these things can be hard at night — and it will be nearly impossible if you’re also distracted by outside input. What is more, light from screens can confuse your brain into thinking it’s daytime.
Sleep, Prayer, and Anxiety Disorders
These steps can be helpful for anyone. However, those who deal with anxiety as a mental health condition may have fully surrendered everything to God and still can’t sleep. You may have followed those steps in Philippians 4 a thousand times, and you still find yourself wracked with worry. Insomnia can result from, and worsen, responses that have more to do with what’s going on in your body and brain than with your spiritual condition. In other words, you may feel anxious because of chemicals that are out of balance in your body, not because you’re failing to trust God with something.
First, I encourage those experiencing this kind of anxiety to continue to take deliberate steps to bring your worries to God — even though that might not make you feel better right away. The truth is, the peace of Christ is with you whether you can feel it or not. God is helping you and guiding you. So, rather than giving up, keep pressing on.
Second, if you haven’t already, consider seeking help from someone trained in treating chronic anxiety. Lots of treatment options are available in most parts of the world. Receiving anxiety treatments doesn’t mean you aren’t trusting Christ. Instead, it can enable you to do so even more in the long run.
God Can Redeem Insomnia
You’ve probably experienced some detrimental effects from sleeplessness on your spiritual life:
- You may sleep through the time you usually spend with God in the morning.
- You may be grouchy and rude to your family members or others.
- You may have less self-control and give in to temptation more easily than usual.
In other words, you may find that the fruits of the Spirit don’t flow quite as easily when you are lacking sleep. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22).
However, God can redeem anything, including sleepless nights.
As I mentioned already, I have experienced lots of sleepless nights. I struggle with several forms of anxiety, and insomnia is just one of those challenges to overcome. My sleeplessness became intense after I gave birth to my first child, and it seemed to worsen after each pregnancy and delivery.
I won’t tell you that God healed my insomnia, because he hasn’t yet! I ask him to do that pretty often. But I wonder if he’s waiting a while for a reason.
When I first developed insomnia about 13 years ago, I felt frantic and overwhelmed by my inability to sleep. After a few nights with long stretches of wakefulness, I began to fear and dread going to sleep. If I woke up at all in the night, I would worry instantly that I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep — and often this worry made itself come true!
After a while, I would get up and relocate to a place where I could read and write without waking my husband. This is recommended, actually — get out of bed if you’ve been awake for more than 20 minutes or so. I developed a middle-of-the-night routine of opening my Bible to a psalm and copying it down in my journal until I was too sleepy to continue. It didn’t take much mental clarity to copy words down, and I found it soothing.
One night, I found myself panicking because I’d woken up. I felt so angry and frustrated. After all, I reminded God, Psalm 127:2 says, “The Lord grants sleep to those he loves.” And I know you love me. So why won’t you grant me sleep?!
I think these feelings are completely natural, and I don’t blame myself.
While I didn’t hear God speak an audible response, I felt my spirit settle, and a truth rose to the surface: God and I have had some priceless times alone in the middle of the night.
I imagine these times together kind of like two friends: one is in a hospital bed and the other is sitting nearby, keeping him company. That friendship will be all the stronger, all the sweeter because they have endured long, quiet hours together, often in seclusion.
God is with me, even in the dark of night, even in my anxiety and sleeplessness. He is with you too.
Next time you find yourself awake in the dark hours, unable to sleep, consider walking through the steps of Philippians 4. If you finish that and still can’t sleep, get out of bed and copy down a Psalm or other Scripture. These steps are just examples of the many ways we can pursue a deeper relationship with God during sleeplessness, while he is healing you and making you whole.
I will close with some snippets of Psalms that have brought me comfort in the night, starting with my favorite, Psalm 139:
“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways...If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,’
even the darkness will not be dark to you;the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.”
“But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.”
“Answer me when I call to you,
my righteous God.Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer...
Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.Tremble and do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the Lord...In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.”
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Viacheslav Peretiatko
