Awake at 4:00 am

October 5, 2017

Every so often, I awake in the middle of the night to find the other side of our bed empty. Every so often, it’s not until I get up in the morning that I realize the other side is not occupied. If for any reason Linda wakes up in the middle of the night, as likely as not, she can’t get back to sleep. Unless she turns the TV on. I’ve told her it’s OK to do that, but she knows that the flickering screen and the sounds will wake me and keep me awake, which is somewhat odd, since I can’t hear much without my hearing aids. Once she’s awake, her mind starts racing, which isn’t too surprising, since most everything she does, she does at double time. She goes downstairs, turns on the TV, lays down on the couch, and is soon fast asleep. I don’t know how she does it.

I was wide awake at 4:00 am this morning; I don’t know why. Usually if I wake up, I can go right back to sleep, but not last night. After lying in bed for half an hour, I got up, showered, and went downstairs. Our men’s prayer group wasn’t until 6:00, so I had plenty of time. I hope it doesn’t happen again, but if it does, I’ll take it as a Samuel call. The young man Samuel was sleeping one night when he heard someone call his name. Thinking it was Eli, the priest and his guardian, he got up and went to him. Only Eli hadn’t called him. This was repeated, and finally the third time, Eli realized what was going on and told Samuel to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” 

I really like my sleep, but if this happens again, I’ll take it that God has something to say to me. When that happens, it’s a good idea to listen.