Rembrandt painted his famous ”The Storm on the Sea of Galilee” in 1633. This depicts the gospel story of Mark 4:35-41 in which Jesus and his twelve disciples crossed the suddenly treacherous waters. If you count closely, you will notice that there are fourteen people in the boat; Jesus, his disciples, and one additional person. That person is Rembrandt. He often painted himself into his vivid biblical scenes. This illustrates a popular principle of meditation that one of the helpful ways to experience the depth of Scripture is by placing yourself within the story.
If you are familiar with this passage or take time to read it now, you notice that Jesus was exhausted from his full day of preaching and teaching and soon fell asleep. As the sudden and furious storm descends it threatened to sink the fishing vessel. The panic-stricken disciples wake Jesus and hysterically ask if he cares about their dire situation. Jesus immediately rebukes the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still!” (verse 39), and all was calm. Now it is Jesus’s turn to rebuke his timid disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (verse 40).
We might naturally ask why were these disciples, many who were experienced fishermen who had sailed on this sea many times, so afraid? While it isn’t difficult to understand their terrorized response the more challenging question needs to be asked of Jesus. How could he fall asleep and remain asleep during this raging storm? Many Bible scholars assert that Jesus’s trust and confidence in God enabled him to sleep. That provides one helpful principle as we struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep. The more we can surrender our anxieties and fears to God the more likely we will be able to sleep. But insomnia is far more complicated than that and there are many other reasons why a person might lie awake for hours during the night.
This awareness has motivated my current writing project. I have been collecting evening hymns and prayers from across the centuries of the church on several aspects of sleep and sleeplessness. Those themes include the purpose of sleep, preparation for sleep, children and sleep, the challenge of interrupted sleep, the watches of nights (see Psalm 63:6; 119:148), asleep in Jesus (the relation between sleep and dying), and morning hymns and prayers of gratitude. The working title of this book, When Sleep is Elusive: Evening Hymns and Prayers to Combat Insomnia will be published by IVP Academic.
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