Are You Sleeping Well?

I’m hearing from friends and family concerning the recent financial problems across the country and around the world. Some are being laid off at their place of employment and others have watched their employer simply shut the doors to businesses decades old. Others are now well-aware that their debt far surpasses their means to pay it off, as their average income dwindles. It’s hard times for those who have not been living within their means and a pay-as-you-go plan. I seriously believe this crisis would have been avoided if our lawmakers and representatives of the people, state and federal, had to actually follow the rules and laws they themselves impose on the rest of us. Somehow I think they would have seen this coming if they actually had to buy their own gas, and car, life and health insurance, or deal with a banker, or Freddy and Fanny for a roof over their head. Have you ever heard of a retired elected official living off Social Security and Medi-Care? Ain’t gonna happen. But if they had to, things would be a lot different.
A farmer owned some land along the Atlantic seacoast and constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic coast, dreading the awful storms that raged there, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. One day a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farm hand?” asked the farmer. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows”, answered the little man. Puzzled by his answer, the farmer desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk. The farmer was well pleased with the man’s work. Then one night the wind began to howl loudly, a storm was coming in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired man’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man, “Get up! A storm is coming! We must get things tied down before they blow away!” The little man rolled over in his bed and firmly said, “No sir! I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.” Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all the haystacks had already been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured, everything was tied down; nothing could blow away. The farmer understood what his hired man meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
[2 Timothy 3] Those who are prepared, spiritually, mentally and physically, have nothing to fear in this life. The hired man in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. Are you sleeping well? Can you sleep while stormy winds howl through your life? You can. Security in the storms of life is accomplished by grounding ones self in the Word of God. If we all could hold true to the fruit of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5: 22-26), our needs would always hold priority over our wants, keeping our lives in a manageable order, even in the midst of a storm. The world wants you to have the newest and the best, which overpowers your need for God. God has promised eternal security and has prepared a place of rest for those who are prepared. Do you comfort yourself in God’s will for man? Can you sleep when the wind blows?