Jesus' Sleeplessness

My wife, who has a very complex and high-pressure job, falls asleep, doesn’t have weird dreams, and is happy to start the day in the morning. I’m much more anxious. Sometimes I “can't turn my brain off"; I lay awake or semi-awake until midnight or 12:30. Once in a while (though not often), I can't sleep at all and end up drifting off at 3 AM or later.  Television isn’t very good after about 1 AM….

Even if I can turn my brain off and go to sleep, my brain isn’t really off, because my crazy dream life kicks in.  Sometimes I wake up blue because I dreamed about my childhood home, which I had to sell a few years ago, or about Oddball, our cat who passed away last year.

I can think of a half-dozen or so times in my whole life when I couldn't sleep at all, except for an hour or two, most of them when I was young and worried variously about bullies, or girls, and other things.  What torture, though, when you’re exhausted and you know sleep would help you, but your brain is like a cage of angry animals.

Fortunately I've figured out two things which have helped me with sleeplessness. (1) Just because I'm very anxious about a situation, doesn't mean the situation is as dire as I perceive it.  (2)  The fact that I can't do anything about the problem late at night makes the situation seem worse; the vast majority of the time, I’ve been able to deal with the problem the following day.  If I can keep these things in mind, I can relax and sleep.

“[F]or he gives sleep to his beloved" (Ps.127:2b), which can also be translated “for he provides for his beloved during sleep.” Other psalms concern sleep and sleeplessness.

I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. (Ps. 4:8)

I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping (Ps. 6:6)

Late-night prayer isn't necessarily calming, at least at first, since prayer is your thoughts and your thoughts are disordered and filled with worry. I try to have some good devotional material handy, like a Joyce Rupp book or quarterly lessons.  They help provide a wider perspective, and the act of reading brings on drowsiness.

Jesus sometimes prayed late at night, alone (e.g. Luke 6:12) Based on Hebrews 5:7 (“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission”), I wonder if some of his late-night prayer times weren’t simply a choice to commune with God but a time to orient himself with God amid distressed sleeplessness.

That’s speculation, but still, Jesus’ sleeplessness can be a wonderful “sleep aid,” in that you know Jesus understands our struggles.  We could also connect his sleeplessness with the wonderful Psalm 121:

He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.