WEEK 5 ● Day 5
READ PSALM 63:6-8
When I was young and couldn’t sleep, my dad would always tell me to do one of two things:
- Read your Bible.
- Pray.
At the time, I’d roll my eyes —those were about the last things I wanted to do. If I couldn’t sleep, I may as well read my favorite book or watch a movie, right? Or at the very least, I thought, I should get to play with my toys until my eyelids were heavy. Who wants to read that boring Bible or pray . . . that’d put me straight to sleep! Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I thought. That’s why I should do those things!
I chuckle now every time one of our kids taps on our door late at night, rubbing their eyes, complaining that they, too, cannot sleep. I say the same thing my dad once did. Except now, I understand why he suggested it.
Head to BibleGateway.com or YouVersion.com and scroll through a few translations of Psalm 63:6-7 (perhaps start with the ESV, NIV, NKJV, and end with VOICE and TPT).
History Lesson
The Israelites didn’t measure time in hours like we do —they measured it in groupings. No, not like how some of us measure our day with breakfast time, lunchtime, and dinnertime. Or even evening, night, and please-don’t-wake-me-up time or first cup of coffee, second cup of coffee, third cup of coffee (which is how I gauge my day, sometimes . . .). The Israelites measured the night by three military watches, or periods of time when guards were on duty. The first watch (Lamentations 2:19) was from sunset to 10:00 p.m.; the middle watch (Judges 7:19) was from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.; and the morning watch (1 Samuel 11:11) was from 2:00 a.m. to sunrise.
Later in Israel’s history (specifically, during Roman times), they moved to four watches, which ended at 9:00 p.m., midnight, 3:00 a.m., and 6:00 a.m. These watches were either referenced by numbers (first, second, third, and fourth) or by titles (“even,” “midnight,” “cock-crowing,” and “morning”; see Mark 13:35).[1]
1. Rewrite Psalm 63:6-7 in your own words, or combine your favorite word translations from various versions.
I absolutely love the way Charles Spurgeon expands on verse 6 (you can find it in the BLB under Text Commentaries[2]):
He turned his bedchamber into an oratory, he consecrated his pillow, his praise anticipated the place of which it is written, “There is no night there.”
My husband, Ben, teases me about falling asleep about a half second after my head hits the pillow. I go-go-go all day, and by bedtime, I absolutely crash. But some nights, especially if Ben is out of town, I wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to fall back to sleep. Most of these wakings are moments I know 100 percent that God is withholding my slumber because He’s asking me to spend time with Him. And, as Spurgeon so beautifully explains, I, too, turn my bedchamber into an oratory, lifting up friends and family, struggles and fears, and thanking Him for his protection, guidance, and love. In the same way, when I was young and my dad encouraged me to read my Bible or pray when I couldn’t sleep, what he was actually doing was helping me understand that I can approach the throne at any time, night or day.
2. What do you do when you can’t sleep?
Do you think perhaps these are moments when God is asking for some time with you? That He wants you to tell Him about the stresses wrapping you up so tightly that sleep doesn’t come easily? What if your eyes are open because He wants you to trust Him with your struggles and pain, as much as your happiest joys?
3. Think back to a recent time you struggled to sleep. What kept you up? How might you take that before God?
David’s yes in the darkness is often in the literal darkness. Day or night, no matter the difficulty, he wants a close and honest relationship with his heavenly Father. We see another expression of this in Psalm 63:8.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
This chapter has several references to hands and lifting up. Verse 4 talks about David lifting up his own hands, and now four verses later, he’s talking about God’s.
4. Why do you think David singles out God’s right hand? Why specify a certain hand?
Several of our children are from a country where hands —instead of utensils —are used for eating. In that country, the right hand is the “clean” hand, used for things like eating, writing, and shaking someone else’s hand. The left hand is used for . . . well, let’s say less-clean things like using the restroom. If I were in Ethiopia and said I’d hold someone up with my left hand, they would be less than excited. Reaching out with my right hand is much more honoring because of what each hand represents.
The same symbolism was true in Hebrew culture.[3] David knows God wants the best for him. He wants to honor David and love on him as He holds him up at times when David cannot stand on his own.
History Lesson
In ancient times, a person with high or the highest rank stood to the king’s right side. Even today, a person may be called someone’s “right-hand man (or woman!)” or “wingman” when he or she serves as the closest person to another leader. An example of this can be found in Genesis 48:13-14, when Jacob blessed the child who would receive a greater blessing with his right hand. The right hand of God likewise relates to this concept of someone being right next to God, acknowledging both authority and closeness to Him.[4]
Let’s look and see what the word upholds literally means in the Hebrew text. Head to the BLB and go to Psalm 63:8, clicking on the Interlinear.
5. What other words do you read for tamak (תָּמַךְ, pronounced tah-mak)?
6. In what way(s) might God hold you up or support you?
Have you ever needed to be held up because you’re too weary to go on? God can hold us up in many ways, but one that feels especially personal is when He holds us up by using people around us.
A story in Exodus gives us a vivid example of how our friends can hold us up when things get to be too much. The Israelites were fighting for their lives against the Amalekites, and ahead of the battle, Moses relayed God’s instructions to Joshua:
“Select some of our best men, and go fight against the soldiers of Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand at the crest of that hill overlooking the battlefield with God’s staff in my hand.”
Joshua did exactly as Moses had instructed him to do. He gathered the strongest men he could find and fought against the soldiers of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of the hill.
But then the men around Moses observed something:
It happened that whenever Moses raised his hand, the battle went well for Israel; but whenever he lowered his hand to rest, Amalek began to win. When Moses became too tired to hold his hands up any longer, Aaron and Hur took a stone and sat him down on it. Then both men stood beside Moses, one on each side, holding his hands up and keeping them steady until sunset. In the end, Joshua and the men of Israel defeated Amalek and his soldiers with the sword.
Now those are discerning friends who knew they needed to step up and into action. Have you ever experienced this?
7. When has someone close to you held you up in a difficult season? What was that experience like?
As we close, let’s meditate on the poem below. Write in the lines next to it and have conversation with God as you reflect on the words.
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord,
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”
He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you,
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.” Amen.