"31:23This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: ‘The LORD bless you, O righteous dwelling, O sacred mountain.’ 24 People will live together in Judah and all its towns — farmers and those who move about with their flocks. 25 I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
26 "At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me."
I like to sleep. How about you? When I read in Revelation 21 that in the new heaven there is no more night, I get kind of mixed feelings. I like nighttime! I like, no, I love to sleep! Sleep is, as the prophet Jeremiah muses in his book, very "pleasant to me."
One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 31:26. I like to pick favorites that are off the beaten track. In this section of Jeremiah's prophecy, the Lord is describing the exile of Judah and the following restoration. Bad things are coming, He says, but I will restore my people and refresh the faint. Sounds like Isaiah 40, doesn't it? At this sentence, the prophet wakes up and realizes he had been dreaming. But what a dream! Not only that, he realizes that the Lord has refreshed him! He found his sleep to be just what the doctor ordered for his weary heart.
Sometimes sleep can do that to a person. It can be our "reset" button for our emotions. It can be a calm in our stressful storm. It can refresh and energize unlike any tonic or potion we have invented.
I write this as I sit at my desk wide awake. It's 1:30 in the morning. I cannot sleep. Did I mention that I love sleep? Thought so.
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