This is a summary of a sermon I preached recently from Psalm 4, which I titled “How to Sleep in Distress.” Every Christian at some point or other, whether due to their faith, or simply due to the sins of others, has suffered at the hands of distressing and unjust slander and ill-treatment. We even lose sleep over it.

But in psalm 4, King David teaches us that we don’t have to!

While David knew his share of deceptive, worthless and unjust treatment by others, by God’s grace he was able to maintain a proper perspective of the situation. As a result, he could lie down and rest peacefully at night (Psa. 4:8). Psalm 4 explains how he was able to do it.

Read on to find out how you too can sleep deeply during your distress.

Here is an encouraging devotional thought from Stephen Altrogge on his blog The Blazing Center. I copied it completely here, but you can view the post here at his site if you want.

He quotes from the English Standard Version of Judges 10:16. I actually prefer the way the NIV puts it — God “could bear Israel’s misery no longer.” When you are suffering and in misery, even as a result of your sinful choices, God’s mercy and grace is still in operation.

Here are Altrogge’s comments.

God is patient and longsuffering when it comes to our sins, but impatient over our suffering.

The book of Judges recounts how Israel rejected God repeatedly, and after much patience with their idolatries, would send foreign nations to oppress them, to turn them back to himself. And every time, after chafing under their oppressors’ yokes for years, Israel would cry out to God. Then, filled with pity, despite all their past rebuffs, God would rescue them. But as soon as things were going well again…poof – Israel’s love would evaporate, and they’d be back sleazing with their idols.

You’d think God would have just dumped them. That after so many slaps in the face, he’d say, “Hey, you made your bed, now sleep in it.” But he was patient with their sins and amazingly anxious to end their well-deserved suffering.

So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel. Judges 10.16

Isn’t that incredible? God was “impatient” over their distress. When I’m impatient it’s sinful, but God’s impatience in the above verse is seen by many scholars “as a reference to God’s great mercy and his capacity to be moved by Israel’s misery and repentance” (ESV Study Bible).

If God pitied unfaithful Israel in their affliction, how much more is he moved by the suffering of his blood-bought children. God has a holy impatience with our suffering. He’s not deaf to our cries or unmoved by our sighs, but quick to listen, quick to send grace. He has pity and compassion as vast and deep as the ocean.

What an incredible God – he’s patient with our sins and offenses, but he’s impatient over our misery, and anxious to end it.