Today Daily Devotional

Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.

— Acts 12:6

Sometimes we awake from a dream feeling relieved that it was only a dream. Other times we awake and wish the dream were real.

After being locked up in prison, Peter awoke when an angel came to free him, “but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.” Later he realized that a miracle had taken place and he was no longer in prison.

The book of Acts shows us what the early church suffered for preaching and teaching about Jesus. King Herod had executed James, one of Jesus’ disciples. Seeing that his actions pleased the Jews, Herod arrested Peter, the disciples’ leader, intending to try him in public (Acts 12:1-4). But God had other plans, as we see in Peter’s dramatic escape.

This surprising episode teaches us some important things. For example, we see the power of prayer. After Peter’s arrest, the church in Jerusalem prayed earnestly for him. God hears and answers the prayers of his people. We also see the passion and commitment of the early church to keep proclaiming the good news of Jesus, despite persecution. Their sharing of the love of Jesus changed the world, and our sharing of Jesus’ love can do that too.

Lord Jesus, you suffered for us. Help us to embrace the cost of following you and sharing your story with our world. Amen.

He returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.

— Matthew 26:40

After an exhausting day, have you still had more to do even though it was bedtime? And have you kept on, barely able to stay awake? That’s the kind of day the disciples had when they went with Jesus to the garden of Gethsemane.

After telling his disciples to wait, Jesus went deeper into the garden to pray. Returning an hour later, he found Peter, James, and John fast asleep. Jesus scolded them and warned them to stay awake and alert. Yet, after going to pray and returning twice again, he found them sleeping. Why did Jesus take a rough tone with them? After all, they had become totally worn out physically, emotionally, and spiritually—not to mention having a cloud of danger and doom hanging over them.

Though Jesus rebuked the disciples’ sleepiness, this scene reveals more about his own situation. Overwhelmed with sorrow, Jesus was weighed down with the great burden of suffering he would soon face. But his confession—“My Father . . . not as I will but as you will” and “May your will be done”—resonates through the centuries to us today.

The disciples’ powerlessness to stay awake only highlights Jesus’ pain and suffering, which ends in his excruciating death on the cross. The suffering that Jesus shouldered for us brings us to our knees in humility and gratitude.

Lord, we are so weak. Only you had the will and ability to carry the burden of our sin. Help us to stay alert and share your love. Amen.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

— Matthew 11:28

Do you ever feel completely worn out? Health experts may advise remedies such as eating right, exercising regularly, and getting enough rest. To feel truly rested, many of us need seven to eight hours of sleep each night, and some of us may need even more. This is good advice, but sleep isn’t the only rest we need. Jesus offers us true rest.

Jesus promises a kind of spiritual rest unrecognized by the world’s physical health experts. As the Creator of the world and of all humanity, Jesus knows us. He knows our weaknesses, our brokenness, and our struggles. He knows what weighs us down and wearies our bodies and souls. He also knows exactly what kind of rest we need. No healthy sleep routine with adequate deep sleep, dream sleep, and light sleep will provide the spiritual rest we need. Only Jesus can provide the rest that reaches to the depths of our souls.

Jesus invites all who are exhausted—weighed down by the cares, obligations, stresses, and problems of life—to come to him. He invites us simply to ground ourselves in him and to follow him every day. Though Jesus doesn’t promise us an easy path, he assures us he is “gentle and humble in heart”—and only in and through him will we find true rest for our souls.

Jesus, our Savior and Lord, only in you can we find rest for our souls. Please provide the spiritual rest we need in you. Amen.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

— Mark 4:38

There are some places—like on airplanes—where I find it impossible to sleep.

In our story today, though, we read that Jesus fell into a deep sleep on a small boat that was out on a lake—in the middle of a storm!

Though a cushion may have aided his sleep, this brief scene about Jesus’ nap on a boat reveals two important truths about him. Like us, Jesus needed sleep. Too often when we read the stories of Jesus, we focus only on his divinity—that he is God. But this story also reminds us of Jesus’ humanity—that he is human, just like us. To be our Savior, Jesus became like us in every way, except that he was without sin (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15). He became fully human so that he could pay the price of sin for us. But he also had to be fully God so that he could save us from our estrangement with God.

In the boat, Jesus’ disciples shook him awake, fearing that they would drown in the storm. Sitting up and perhaps rubbing his eyes, Jesus calmly rebuked the wind and the waves. “Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.” Only God can do that.

Fully human and fully divine, only Jesus can rescue us. As he called his disciples to believe in him, so he calls us to trust him for forgiveness and for safe passage through the storms of life.

Jesus, Lord and Savior, thank you for your love and forgiveness. Please help us to trust you in the storms of life. Amen.

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him. . . .

— Matthew 1:24

Have you ever dreamed that an angel commanded you to do something? I’ve had some serious dreams, but I’ve never had a dream where I awoke convinced that God had told me to do something.

Joseph had that kind of a dream, though. He had become engaged to a young woman named Mary, but then he discovered she was pregnant—and he knew that he wasn’t the father. Being both a devout and decent man, Joseph decided to end the engagement quietly. In this way he was responding to the wisdom of his faith and the compassion in his heart. But he soon learned in a dream that God had a special plan for him. Before Joseph could act, an angel of the Lord commanded him to take Mary home as his wife. The angel said that her child was to be named Jesus because he would save the people from their sins. When Joseph awoke, he obeyed what God had commanded, taking Mary as his wife.

Joseph also had some other dreams that revealed God’s mysterious power (see Matthew 2). And in each case Joseph did as the Lord commanded.

Can God speak to us in the same way? Certainly he can, but God calls us in many ways, ordinary and extraordinary, to be obedient to his will in our daily lives. And when we trust and obey, as Joseph did, our obedience glorifies God and blesses the world.

Father, thank you for the mysterious and powerful ways you work in our world. Help us to obey and honor you, reflecting your glory. Amen.

“I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me.”

— Daniel 7:15

On occasions when I have visited places plagued with malaria, I have taken antimalarial drugs. The lifesaving benefits of these medications certainly outweigh the side effects, but these pills can trigger vivid, bizarre, and even frightening dreams.

The prophet Daniel sometimes had strange dreams, but they weren’t induced by medications (see Daniel 7-12). He received those dreams from the Lord, and they were given to assure God’s people that the Lord will always care for them and that his kingdom will never be destroyed.

Like Daniel, many people have struggled to understand and interpret these dreams. And as Daniel himself said, the dreams left him “troubled,” “exhausted,” and even sick.

Beyond the question of interpretation, Daniel’s dreams may lead us to wonder about the purpose of our own dreams. Sometimes our dreams may reveal or highlight a spiritual truth to us, though not in the same way as dreams in the Bible do. Most of our dreams, though, will remain a mysterious part of our inner lives.

Nonetheless, we can be assured that the one who created in us the ability to dream also knows and loves us completely. The Lord will never abandon us, even in our most troubling dreams.

Father, you have created us to dream. Please show your presence in all areas of our lives and keep us trusting in you always. Amen.

The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.

— Ecclesiastes 5:12

Ecclesiastes connects sleep with a sense of peace and satisfaction in life. These blessings are linked with honest work and recognizing that all good things come from God, who provides what we need. The ability to accept and enjoy the life we have and to be happy in our work is a great gift from God. This brings us peace of heart so that we can sleep well, knowing we are always in God’s care.

Ecclesiastes warns about the insatiable pursuit of wealth and its spiritual perils. Though it doesn’t condemn wealth, this passage warns that it’s better to have little and enjoy it than to have too much and be spoiled by it. Wealth and abundance are blessings from God, but pursuing wealth for its own sake shows a heart of greed and a lack of gratitude that will impoverish our lives and even harm our souls. Directing our resources, pursuits, and passions toward God is far better.

Jesus draws from some of the wisdom here and helps us understand it more clearly when he says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? . . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:25-33).

Help us, Lord, to focus on living for you, seeking to put your kingdom first in our lives and in your world. Amen.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?

— Proverbs 6:9

Years ago, when we lived in Taiwan, we awoke one morning to find a column of ants marching across our house, from one end to the other. Ants are truly amazing. They seem so driven, directed, and industrious. In fact, Proverbs describes them here as a model of organization and industry and as a spur against laziness.

This passage does not suggest that we must always be busy or that rest is unimportant. For human beings, both rest and work together reveal our identity as imagebearers of Creator God. As such, we have an innate desire—even need—to create flourishing.

What might that mean? Flourishing results from seeking to serve and honor God in all we do. In all our work, hobbies, rest, recreation, and more, we can nurture and be nurtured by life in this world God has made—whether we are cooks, programmers, builders, medical workers, gardeners, maintenance workers, artists, teachers, drivers, farmers, and more. But if we squander our time and talents, we deny who we are and waste opportunities to serve God and others.

All of our daily work, at home and in the world, will not resemble ants marching in line. We are not ants. We are imagebearers of God, and the work and service we do will be creative and purposeful, punctuated by sabbath rest and refreshment, bringing glory to God and joy to creation.

Lord, help us to use all of the gifts and talents you have given us to bring you glory and to bless others. Amen.

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

— Proverbs 3:24

Last night I slept well. I fell asleep quickly, got up only once, had pleasant dreams, and awoke refreshed and ready to greet the new day. As the writer of Proverbs might have said, it was a “sweet” night of sleep.

King Solomon, the author of the first part of Proverbs, advises his son that wisdom is found only in the Lord. The king urges his son to seek wisdom and understanding. Make them “an ornament to grace your neck,” he says. “They will be life for you.”

So, what constitutes wisdom? Wisdom here and throughout the Bible means discerning God’s design for how we should live in his world. This means trusting in God, following his commands for living, and seeking God’s guidance in all we do.

Does this mean that if we live according to God’s design, everything in our lives will go smoothly? And if we follow God well during the day, we’ll sleep sweetly at night? Not necessarily. The evil unleashed by human rebellion in the world continues to wreak havoc on us, on others, and on creation.

Still, we can trust God’s design for us and follow him in all of life’s circumstances. Then, even though our world may be chaotic and filled with threats, we can experience the sweetness of resting in God, both day and night, now and forever.

Father, you have made us for yourself, and only in you can we find true rest. Lead us, we pray, in your paths of rest now and always. Amen.

“I will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the Lord. . . .”

— Psalm 132:4-5

What’s the longest time you’ve ever gone without sleep? On long trips sometimes, I’ve stayed awake for more than 30 hours. Normally I can only stay awake for relatively short periods of time. Even dogged determination won’t keep me awake after a certain point. So what should we make of King David’s plan not to sleep?

After consolidating his rule over Israel, David built a fine palace for himself. Afterward, though, he felt guilty for not building a splendid house for God. In Psalm 132 we hear about David’s determination to build a marvelous temple for God. Using exaggerated language, he declares that he will not rest until he has found the right place for God to dwell.

Though God is pleased with David’s devotion, he doesn’t allow him to build the temple, saying that the task is for his son Solomon (see 2 Samuel 7).

Though it’s wise to avoid making exaggerated “I will never . . .” statements, we do well to honor God and give him first place in our lives. God is the only source of true satisfaction and rest, and we need to honor him in all we think, say, and do—with our bodies as well as our minds. God also calls us to build: investing our time, talents, and treasure to work with him in building his church and kingdom. How? By worshiping and praying together, sharing each other’s burdens, and bringing his good news to the world.

Lord, help us to please you and to join in building your church and kingdom at home and around the world. Amen.