Resting with Jesus on My Mind

Resting with Jesus on My Mind

“I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.” (Psalm 3:5)

Many people know from sad experience that the mind frequently drifts to thoughts that are utterly of self, and its interests and desires, in those half-asleep, half-awake moments that end our days and begin our nights.  I have discovered, therefore, that it is of great importance to capture this half world of the mind for our Lord Jesus Christ.

One morning, when I awoke trying to solve a chess problem that had filled my mind as I had put my head upon my pillow the night before, I became conscious of this law.  I determined that, henceforth, I should go to sleep thinking of Christ.  As the months passed, I discovered that there was much more than a habit involved in this.  Here was a proof of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart and mind, controlling even the subconscious element of my life.

Then I learned that I must not merely go to sleep thinking about Christ, but that I must go to sleep in communion with Him.  I began memorizing verses of Scripture at night and reciting them as I fell asleep.  At first, these truths were merely objective. “His Name shall be called wonderful. . .” (cf. Isaiah 9:6) might be my verse on a certain night.  I would meditate on this, in terms somewhat like those in which I might expound them to an audience.  “His Name is full of wonders.  His Name is the name Jesus, that of the Savior.  He shall save His people from their sins,” I said to myself.

Then there came a change that He brought in my procedure.  Those same sentences were altered to the person, number, and tense of fellowship.  Your Name is full of wonders.  Your Name is Jesus.  You are my Savior.  You shall continually save me from my sins.  Soon, He became more real than the inside of my eyelids.  I could not see them though they were close to my eyes; Him I learned to know in everything but the touch.  And closing one’s eyes with Christ takes away all fear of sleepless nights.  Let others count sheep jumping over a wall; I shall talk with the Shepherd!