“Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” 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” (Psalm 3:2-5).

I sometimes have trouble sleeping because I can’t shut my brain off.

Occasionally, this doesn’t bother me. I get an idea for a story or a devotion, and I’m so excited that I can’t fall asleep until I flesh it out more in my head. (I’ve learned from experience that I need to write down the ideas I get in the middle of the night, or else I won’t remember them in the morning.)

More often, though, I lay awake because I’m dwelling on the fears, uncertainties, worries, and struggles that my family and I are facing. These are often problems that I can’t resolve on my own—problems which leave me feeling helpless, anxious, and exhausted.

I know what I should be doing with my fears, uncertainties, worries, and struggles. I should be taking them to God in prayer and leaving them at his feet. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,” the apostle Peter urged his readers (1 Peter 5:7). But instead of listening to God’s Word, I listen to the whispered lies of the devil and my own sinful nature that sound so similar to the lie that David heard and wrote about in the verses quoted above.

Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him” (Psalm 3:2).

I listen to that lie, and God, forgive me, I believe it.

I doubt that God will actually deliver me from the things that keep me up at night—the problems that I can’t resolve on my own. I lie down but cannot sleep because worry keeps me awake. Instead of calling out to God for help and deliverance, I stay silent and suffer.

Sound familiar?

Dear Christian, when doubt plagues your heart and fills your mind with anxious thoughts, focus on your Savior and what he has done for you.

Jesus trusted God with unwavering faith that his life was in his heavenly Father’s hands. He knew who God was. He knew that he could lie down and sleep and wake again because the Lord sustained him. He knew the Lord would deliver him from all his foes. With perfect trust and obedience, Jesus committed his life to his Father’s hands. Not even the sleep of death made him waver because he knew that God was faithful. What were his final words as he hung dying on the cross for the sins of the world?

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)

Jesus knew God would raise him up from the grave, just as he promised. Jesus’ perfect trust and faith in his Father were for you and me. For all the times we doubt and fear and worry that God will not deliver us from our troubles. His trust; his faith is ours, freely given to us out of love.

There are so many fears, stressors, anxieties, and worries that threaten to overwhelm us; to rob us of the peace and joy that are ours because of Jesus. No matter what life looks like, the Lord sustains us. Deliverance comes from him. He rescues us from all our foes. Sin. Death. The Devil. God rescues us and gives us faith to believe his promises, even if everything in life is tempting us to doubt God’s presence.

How does God’s deliverance impact our day-to-day lives?

Focusing on what God has done, is doing, and will do for us because of Jesus helps put everything into perspective. Do earthly problems that we face still exist? Of course. And we still wrestle with those troubles. But we’re not facing them alone. Our God is with us and points us to these undeniable truths in his Word: All our sins are forgiven. We’re loved by God. There’s a home in heaven waiting for us.

Our lives and times are in God’s hands. And there’s no better place for them to be. We can lie down and rest, knowing that the Lord is a shield for us and our glory. We can call out to him and know that he will answer us for Jesus’ sake. He will sustain us through life, night and day, until he calls us home to be with him in heaven.

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