Fear & Anxiety
I dread going to bed. The nightmares are bad and I lie there afraid of falling asleep. Does the Bible say anything about that?
“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.”
This is an evening psalm, written by David during a period when people were openly turning against him and his reputation was under attack. The setting is not peaceful. What he says is that he will lie down and sleep anyway, and the reason given is not that the threat has passed but that God makes him dwell in safety. Safety, in the psalm, is a person rather than a set of circumstances.
“Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.”
Paul was in Corinth, facing hostility and probably wondering whether to move on, when the Lord spoke to him in a vision at night. The words are simple: do not be afraid, keep speaking, I am with you. Luke records the timing deliberately. God met him in the dark hours, in the very place where fear is loudest, and did not wait for morning to say something.
A path forward
Build a fixed wind down: no screens for the last hour, low light, and the same short routine every night. Bodies that dread sleep need predictability more than they need advice.
Pray the same short evening prayer every night, out loud, and end it with Psalm 4:8. Repeated words do a particular kind of work when you are too tired for new ones.
If the nightmares are recurring or tied to something that happened to you, see a doctor or a trauma-informed counsellor. Recurrent nightmares are treatable and you should not be white-knuckling them alone.
Closing verse
“When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.”
- Proverbs 3:24
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