Resting in the safety of God

Recently I remembered a passage from a book I read last year that I thought I'd share:

"We are all helpless when we sleep. No matter how important our job is, no matter how impressive we may be, in order to live we all have to turn off and be unconscious for about 1/3 of our lives. Everyday whether we like it our not, we must enter into vulnerability in order to sleep."

(from Prayer in the Night by Tish Harrison Warren page 88)

Then, the other morning I discovered this old 8th-century prayer from the liturgy of the hours that somehow found its way into a 13th-century Irish Dominican hymn:

Sleep then our eyes, but never sleep

The watchful heaven-directed heart,

And may thy hand in safety keep

The servants whose desire thou art.

Reminds me of that old prayer my mother taught me that included the line "...pray the Lord my soul to keep..." Or, maybe the words at the beginning of Psalm 91 (from The Message version):

You who sit down in the High God’s presence,

    spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,

Say this: “God, you’re my refuge.

    I trust in you and I’m safe!”

That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps,

    shields you from deadly hazards.

His huge outstretched arms protect you—

    under them you’re perfectly safe;

    his arms fend off all harm.

Fear nothing...

Day and night we are in the great and mighty hands of God and we can find true rest and safety in Him.

Photo by Michael Maasen on Unsplash