Praying for God's Peace at Night
Wrapping yourself in the peace that passes understanding
Often when I am anxious at night, this is what I pray (after the Lord's Prayer):
Lord, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.
Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever. (Ps. 131, NKJV)
My dad had a heart by that in his Bible (well, in one of his many Bibles). In a marginal note, he said something like how God's peace is similar to the moon reflected in the stillness of a lake.
And that is how I pray that the Lord may quiet my mind when the stress and the challenges of each day threaten to overwhelm me.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Ps. 139:23-24, KJV)
Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep. (Ps. 127:1-2)
I pray you may all have a good night tonight. May God’s love wrap you in the “peace that passes understanding” (Phil. 4:7 - and see this commentary on it).