Deeper Life #241

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

—Psalm 16:9

IN MODERN PSYCHOLOGY THERE IS a great deal of talk about the subconscious mind or the subliminal consciousness. It is in this realm of our souls, beyond our conscious life, that God surely works during our hours of sleep as well as during our hours of waking.

A very important period in a saint’s life is the hour before sleep, to which few of us pay sufficient attention. The old heathen philosopher Plato said that he used to quiet his mind by devout and blessed thoughts before he slept. If we saints hurry to bed from work or from conversation, without having the “swelling emptiness” crushed from our lives by a time of communion with God, we deserve the horror of darkness and the unrefreshing slumber that awaits our subsequent hours. The instinct that made our parents teach us to pray each night before going to bed is a more profound one, I am sure, than can be stated. These sorts of habits can give a deeper capacity to our souls.

Prayer Thought: O God, I desire to slow down and prepare myself to be in Your presence as I sleep each night.

SUGGESTED READING: Ephesians 6:10–20