BBD 09.10.03 Making It Through The Night
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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The Burning Bush Devotional
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09.10.03
Making It Through The Night
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall
praise You with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on
You in the night watches. Because You have been my help, therefore in the
shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. - Psalm 63:5-7.
My stay in the hospital has severely disrupted the sleep process in my life.
I found myself while in the hospital dreading the ending of the day. I
dreaded several things about that including the lack of interaction with
others. Many fewer people came into my room at night and when they did they
stayed for a briefer period of time. The noise from the IV machine seemed
louder and the automatic blood pressure every hour seemed more intrusive.
During the night hours sometimes bad things would happen and when they did
it was magnified by the quietness of everything else. It seemed that it was
always at night that they came to draw blood for the continual tests that
were necessary. My wife was asleep beside my bed and so it would have been
somewhat rude to watch TV while she was trying to sleep. Although for the
first days I had no interest in watching television or reading - those
things do seem to pass the time away when you are well enough to tolerate
them.
Strangely I found it hard to pray while I was hospitalized. I did run some
Bible verses through my mind but found that difficult as well possibly
because of some of the medications. When the chaplain came Sunday we prayed
for God's presence because that was very precious to me. The entire time I
was hospitalized I was aware of God's presence. He was not speaking to me
most of the time although He did about two days before my release. Maybe I
was like Jonah and He had to get me to a point where I could hear Him. He
has been speaking and giving me all kinds of ideas since I have left the
hospital. I shared with our congregation Sunday that I pray every day for
inspiration, for ideas for sermons and devotionals. I have about ten ideas
for devotionals and sermons which are flowing out of my hospital stay. One
thing I do know about all of this is that out of the bad always comes good
if we love the Lord and are the called according to His purposes (Romans
8:28).
As with the Psalmist what got me through the night was meditating on the
presence of the Lord there with me in my room. Even though the praise was
not coming through my lips I was praising Him with my heart the entire
time - night and day.
Are you in the midst of your own night that seems to never end and go on and
on and on? The Lord is the One who can sustain you through the night. You
have to arrive at a point where you realize there is nothing you can do and
place it all into the arms of the Lord. There was absolutely nothing for me
to do while I was laying on my bed with wires and tubes coming out
everywhere. But I could be aware of His presence and His concern. I praised
Him with my heart during those long nights and that is what you must do as
well. Remember the times of His help and comfort through your life. Remember
and rejoice that He loves you so much that His One and only Son died for
you. Remember that He has not forgotten about you and that you are still in
the shadow of His wings.
Copyright © 2003. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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