Devotionals

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Living in Hawaii, we get calls at three in the morning from telemarketers trying to sell time shares in Florida. They have no clue we're six hours behind. One actually thought Hawaii was in the Caribbean.

Sleep is a very personal thing with me. I love my pillow. My futon is my favorite friend. So anything that gets me up at night better be important.

Having said that, today I found a verse in my Bible I had highlighted years ago:

Rise in the night and cry to your God. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord; lift up your hands to Him; plead for your children... Lamentations 2:19

I discovered that verse while going through some deep waters with one of my children. I had underlined, rise in the night, and plead for your children. Dated it September 9, 1999.

This passage speaks to me of someone who is desperate for an answer. Desperate to the point of sacrificing personal comfort in order to be heard by God.

"Rise in the night...plead for your children..."

The sin that grips our children and their generation is strong. Unrelenting! It attaches itself like a nut rusted to a bolt. They become inseparable.

Prayer, serious, sleep depriving prayer, is the only thing that will break the grip. It is the penetrating oil that will dissolve the corrosion and loosen the threads and cause it to become functional once again.

I actually went to Sears and bought a chair back in 1999. A big, overstuffed chair for the living room. And I would get up at night, sit in the chair and pray. The kids started calling it, "Dad's praying chair."

God heard the prayers of that heavy-hearted dad and proved Himself faithful once again. Not that everything is perfect. But when I think of the way it was then and the way it is today, I can only thank Him for His mercy and grace!

What is it that makes you toss and turn at night? Is there something going on in your world that keeps you awake? If so, let me suggest you get yourself a praying chair.

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