Holding On

My friends and I were having lunch together yesterday and Susan shared a story with us. She told about the fear experienced by children who had been rescued from concentration camps. These children had known true hunger and although after they had been set free from their imprisonment, they were not free from their fear of starvation. Those who were caring for them discovered that if they gave the children a piece of bread to hold during the night, the children would be able to sleep. They were able to sleep because holding onto that bread they had the promise of something to eat in the morning.

Although I have never known the fear of starvation, I have known other fears. The children were given something to hold onto that reassured them that in the morning they would be provided for. When I go to bed at night I can see hanging on my wall something that gives me that same assurance. I look up and see these words, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." (Isaiah 26:3)

There is something about going to sleep at night that invites the fears that can be suppressed during the busyness of the day to surface. There is an awareness of vulnerability that comes with the night. For the children who had known hunger holding bread was like holding onto a promise of provision. When I am faced with the knowledge of my vulnerability I reach out and take hold of the promise I find in the words of the Isaiah.

When the worries of life awaken me I have made it a practice to never use those fears as the theme of my prayers. I want my thoughts fixed on God and not on my problems so in the night I open the eyes of my spirit and I look at the one in whom I've put my trust. I remind myself of his promises and how he has given himself as provision for all my needs.

I have heard that peace is the calm assurance that God is in control. It is this same God who comes to me in the night season when I fix my mind on him. Like the child who has known hunger sleeps peacefully holding the bread, I find rest for my soul holding onto the promises of the one who gave himself to me as the bread of life.