How to Get a Good Night's Sleep

Did you notice how Solomon has come full circle here?

The guy he felt sorry for and led us to feel sorry for in verse 8, that guy who really wasn't registering on the totem pole of power, the day laborer, can't get a fair shake in court or in the corporate world. That guy, all of a sudden now, has the advantage when the lanterns are turned off and the stars come out at night. Now look at him.

Now look at him. He's falling asleep. How well do you sleep?

I know that there can be medical issues and other factors that have a negative impact on our sleep. But does your mind ever keep you awake? What keeps you up at night? What thoughts consume your mind to the point where you cannot sleep? What worries or cares come rushing to mind when it's time to close your eyes at night? For King Solomon, that thing was money. Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey continues through Ecclesiastes. Stephen has some lessons for you from Solomon's financial worries and shares some practical steps for sound, worry-free sleep. This lesson is called How to Get a Good Night's Sleep. The text we're going to look at in a moment tweaked my thinking.

I did a little research. A survey I came across recently said that Americans have the hardest time falling asleep. In fact, the survey revealed that the United States, France, and Taiwan rank among the top three most sleep-deprived nations in the world. I found it interesting and not surprising really that 70% of sleep-deprived individuals can't sleep because they're anxious or troubled or worried in one way or another with issues related to money, finances. Job security would be related to that.

Retirement savings, investment accounts, income levels, bills coming due. Even as believers, our minds are spinning, our hearts are troubled, our stomachs are churning. We so easily forget that even though we can't see him, our Heavenly Father is in the room. In some of the most practical, homespun advice, Solomon essentially informs us of a couple of issues that can rob us of peace and trust and even take away from us a good night's rest.

Money is involved, but that's not all. Take your copy of Solomon's private journal. Let's go back to chapter 5 and pick our study back up where we left off. We're now at verse 8. I want you to notice just the first part of verse 8 as he begins this subject. If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter.

Let's stop for a moment. Solomon is referring to the poorest of the poor. Most believe he's referring to the day laborer.

They were paid at the end of every day. They're being oppressed in some matter. In fact, the word here for violation comes from a Hebrew word, gazelle, which actually refers to robbery or plunder. They're having their things taken away from them, stolen from them. It could be their land.

It could be their fruit or produce. They're being robbed. You could expand it with the implication here of a just verdict in court because he's poor. He doesn't have the money for defense lawyers. He can't afford to take time off from that day labor to mount a defense. He can't afford to wait.

He can't afford to speed up the process. He's at the low end of the totem pole, so to speak, and he has no way up and he has no way out. Solomon, it's interesting, he doesn't say, here's how you fix it. He says, don't be amazed by it.

The verb to be amazed means to be startled or bewildered or fearful. There's a sense of anticipated that because of fallen mankind, this is the way it might be. We'll talk about God's purposes as he works through this chapter. But Solomon here is describing a situation out of our control that may not be fair. It's the kind of thing that can keep you up all night.

There's nothing you can do about it. He is essentially defining the typical bureaucratic system, even the governmental systems of the world. Notice further in verse 8, where Solomon writes, don't be amazed at the matter, that is, here's how it works, for the high official is watched by a higher official and there are higher ones over them.

He's describing the bureaucratic food chain. High officials are watched by even higher officials who are watched by even higher officials. Solomon says, they're all watching each other. It's kind of hard to define what this verb, watching, means. It's probably a negative thing in the context.

It's not clear if they're watching each other to protect each other from being caught in some scam or trick, or if they're watching each other to make sure nobody takes more of the cut than they're supposed to. Either way you interpret it, the guy at the bottom, the poor guy, loses out. And with that, Solomon goes on to cynically add in verse 9, but this is gain for a land in every way a king committed to cultivated fields. You can sort of paraphrase that to understand the phrase, again, in its cynical, negative context. He's saying that everybody is in on the take.

Everybody out there is looking out for number one, and they'll cheat you every chance they get. In fact, the New Living Translation reads that last phrase about the king this way, and even the king milks the land for his own profit. Even the king isn't part of the solution. He's part of the problem.

He's patting his own pocket. He's just describing human nature, isn't he? And the totem pole of power. You travel around the world today, you read, you watch the international news, the majority of governments are described in some way right here in Solomon's journal.

It's all this sort of food chain, and the guy at the bottom, tough. And it seems to be the more power you have, the better off. We're hearing a lot today about the isms of governmental systems, whether it's socialism or fascism or Nazism or capitalism. Several years ago, I followed an article and came across it this past week, which sort of clears the fog on some of these isms. This will give you a quick two-minute overview because it can be a little confusing.

But I think that Solomon's readers through the last 3,000 years have been encouraged in any one of those isms, as correctly interpreted. Think of it in terms of a person who has two cows. Dictatorships, communism, this is a governmental system where you have two cows, you have to give both cows to the government, and they may give you some milk in return. Fascism is where you have two cows, you have to keep them and work them, but then you have to give all the milk to the government, which they, in turn, sell you. Socialism, we've heard a lot about that lately, you have two cows, you have to give one to the government, and they give it to somebody else for free. You really ought to be taking notes here, this is a free education, doesn't cost a dime.

One more, there are more, one more. Capitalism, you have two cows, the government doesn't interfere, so you sell one cow and buy a bull. What happens when you're trapped in a governmental system that offers no help, no hope, and the poor man is left trying to scratch out a living?

It might be the terror of Nazism or the corruption of communism or the unfairness of socialism or maybe even the prejudices that can be built into capitalism. There's no perfect system because there are no perfect people. Solomon's journal has been read by God's people over the past 3,000 years and all of these and more. As I've tried to discern in study how to boil this down to some principle, one principle, it would be this, trust the highest authority of all. No matter what system you're in, Solomon could be interpreted correctly for any of these isms.

No matter what generation, no matter what culture, no matter what kind of government under which you may suffer or enjoy benefits, trust the highest authority of all. The poor man who's at the bottom of the totem pole of power, the last thing he could do is get a good night's sleep. If all he can think about is where he is on that totem pole, he has every reason to worry and fret and stay up all night and bite his nails. What's interesting is that Solomon says, don't be amazed, and then he hints at something he's going to lay out later in the chapter.

We're not going to get there yet, but I'll tell you ahead of time. He's hinting at it here. There's a high official who's watched over by a higher official who's watched over by a higher official, and he's hinting, don't forget there is the highest official. You've got a boss, and that boss has a boss, and that boss probably has a boss, and you can stay up all night worrying about that boss and his boss and that boss. There's a greater boss, the higher authority. There's no one higher than God, and you belong to him as a child of his by faith in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The softest pillow, and you can't buy this one, is trust in that sovereign God. His purposes are promised by him to be fulfilled in your life. The Bible tells us there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Romans 13, verse 1.

In other words, any power, any governmental system, any boss, any corporation, whoever it is, whatever it might be, has that power because and only because God has granted it for a moment in time to fulfill his ultimate purposes. I love the way one author put it, God's hands are behind all the headlines even when it doesn't look like it. Don't be amazed. Don't be troubled. Don't panic. Look up.

Trust in the highest authority over all the true and living God. Part of our problem is we allow the late news to dictate what we think about when we go to bed. The last thing we hear is something on the news. You might want to stop that. Read your Bible. Pray.

Talk to the Lord as your head hits that pillow and rehearse to him. You will trust in his sovereign control even though it's dark and you can't see him. You will trust that he is essentially less than two feet away.

He can see you. One early believer wrote a document now more than a thousand years old and he recommended saying out loud this prayer at bedtime. And I quote, be off, Satan. Be off from this floor and from these four walls. This is no place for you.

There is nothing for you to do here. This is the place for the apostles. This is the place for the gospel. And this is where I intend to sleep now that my day is done in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

It's not a bad prayer. Trust the highest authority of all. The second principle from Solomon's entry here could be said this way. Pursue the best treasure of all. Now what Solomon is going to do is he is going to begin to describe someone who accepts what God has provided with contentment. Contentment which leads to gratitude. And that's the greatest treasure in this context. Contentment with the grateful spirit is a treasure far greater and far bigger than any paycheck. And Solomon begins a rather frank discussion about what that looks like here in verse 10. Notice, he who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves wealth with his income.

By the way, would you notice Solomon is not right? He who has money will not be satisfied with money. He who has wealth, no. He who loves money. The key word is love. The Hebrew verb can be rendered desire.

You could rather woodenly translate it to breathe after, to long for. Paul picks up the same idea as he writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, 10. The love of money is the root of what?

Of all evil. He doesn't say money is. He says the love of it.

Breathing after it. Longing for it is the root. That is, it's the first step toward all kinds of evil. The Hebrew verb is used most often positively in the Old Testament. It's used for Ruth loving Naomi, for Elkanah loving his wife Hannah, for Abraham loving his son Isaac, for Rebekah loving her son Jacob, for David the psalmist loving the commandments, the precepts of God's word. It's used for believers loving God and for God loving believers.

It's even used by Jeremiah to accuse people for loving the wanderer. Obviously, the word is used for something someone is really committed to having or doing. Solomon writes here, it's possible for somebody to be that committed to, that devoted to money. The word he uses for money here in verse 10 is kesef. It's the word you could translate silver. It's the word for silver. They're after all the silver they can get their hands on. Maybe you work next to people like this. Their desire, their conversation, their longing is all about their silver, their money, their latest purchase, their latest commission check, their latest raise, the stuff they bought and the stuff they want to buy.

That's what they breathe. That's all they converse about is for material things. Now what Solomon does, because we as believers can fall into the same trap, just as Paul warned Timothy, he's going to stay for the rest of the chapter, in fact into the next one, but he begins to give very practical down-to-earth warnings about why that kind of breathing, why that kind of longing will do a number of things and among them rob you of a good night's sleep.

Let me give you three or four of them. The first warning or reasoning is this, number one, you'll never have enough. Notice again where Solomon writes in the first part of verse 10, he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver. Solomon should know, by the way, he had a lot of it. In fact, he wasn't really interested in it because he had so much gold. He imported 25 tons of gold annually for all 39 years of his reign. His net worth would be estimated in today's money $2.3 trillion.

He could pay off our national debt in nine years. To put that into another perspective, Solomon was ten times wealthier than Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett Jr. combined. He had a lot of money.

In fact, nobody on the planet to this day comes close to Solomon. If anybody ought to be listened to about the emptiness of silver, it's him. And he says, if this is what you're living for, you're never going to have enough. Secondly, he warns, you'll never earn enough. Maybe you thought, if I could just make 50 cents more an hour, I'd be there. And he got 50 cents an hour more.

How'd you feel? If I could just make a dollar more, you'll never earn enough. Notice, nor he who loves wealth, Haman, refers to possessions, with his income.

That refers to his annual assets or revenue. It'll never grow large enough to where you'll put your head on your pillow and say to yourself, my bank account is finally big enough. My paycheck is fat enough. My retirement account is large enough. I think I'll go to sleep.

No. If that's what you're living for, you'll never have enough. You'll never earn enough.

Number three, you'll never feel safe enough. Notice verse 11, when goods increase, they increase who eat them. And what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? In other words, what advantage is it to see it all slipping through your fingers, going to people who all of a sudden show up because you're making more? What's happening here? He's essentially writing, the more you make, the more you multiply people who want to take it away from you. The message paraphrases it, the more loot you have, the more looters show up. So who's that relative who suddenly surfaced and you don't know they're from Adam?

Who are those friends that now want to take you out to lunch? Will the government want more from you? Probably will.

You're in a new bracket. Will your investments, how do I protect them? Do I do offshore? They might vanish overnight. Do I protect it in some manner? Is that employee I hired, are they going to rip me off? Is that guy pitching that new investment plan for me to invest heavily in, does he really care as much about me as he's saying he does?

Is he going to take care of it? Where did all these people come from? It's the idea. You've heard that old saying, you never knew how many friends you had until you bought a beach house.

Well, that's the idea. And one of the things that can keep you up at night is wondering if those friends that you now have are your friends because of what you own or because of who you are. And you're not quite sure anymore. And if you're living for things, Solomon is essentially saying, you're going to grow more and more obsessed with trying to keep it safe and you'll never keep it quite safe enough because people keep showing up.

You'll never have enough, if this is what you're living for, you'll never earn enough, you'll never feel safe enough. One more, you'll never sleep soundly enough. Look at verse 12, sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. He's had a great meal, he still can't sleep, is the idea. Did you notice how Solomon has come full circle here? The guy he felt sorry for and led us to feel sorry for, in verse 8, that guy who really wasn't registering on the totem pole of power, the day laborer, can't get a fair shake in court or in the corporate world.

That guy, all of a sudden now, has the advantage when the lanterns are turned off and the stars come out at night. Now look at him, now look at him, he's falling asleep and the text is understood to mean he doesn't eat too little and he doesn't eat too much and he's sleeping away. What we have and what we own, if we live for all of that, it has the ability to keep us up at night and this poor man who has very little has the ability to sleep, further described in chapter 5, because he is contented with what God has provided. You want a good night's sleep?

Perhaps it begins with these rather practical principles. Trust the highest authority of all. In other words, place your head on the pillow of God's sovereignty.

It's the softest pillow. Money cannot buy. Trust in your sovereign, purposeful, involved Lord.

You may not be able to see him in the darkness, but he never left the room. Secondly, pursue the best treasure of all. This is contentment with where God has placed you. This is trust in him. No matter what governmental system or corporate structure or difficulty you're facing, even now, thank him for what you have and what he has given you and what he's promised you and where he's taking you.

I close with this. A man I don't know much of but came across his name. He went under the title Uncle Bud Robinson. He preached a century ago for many years in small towns, primarily in the country, frontier towns, uneducated, came to faith as a young man and gave his life to serve the Lord in preaching.

And he had a sincere and, as I read about him, an amazingly fruitful ministry. As an old man near his passing, he was taken by friends to see New York City. He'd never been to a big city and he'd never been to New York, but they wanted to show him the sights and take him to the biggest stores and let him see the inventions and just sort of blow his mind with this big city, all its sights and sounds. After showing him the sights of the city the night before they left, he was overheard praying as he knelt by his bed these words, Lord, thank you for letting me see all the sights of New York City, but I thank you most of all that I didn't see a thing I wanted.

And he climbed into bed and fell asleep. We can trust God to provide for our needs and sleep soundly without worry as we do. Thanks for joining us for this message here on Wisdom for the Heart. Our teacher, Steven Davey, is working through a series from Ecclesiastes called Surviving Evil Under the Sun.

The message you just heard is called How to Get a Good Night's Sleep. If you'd like more of this practical Bible teaching, Steven's 35 years of preaching is posted to our website, wisdomonline.org. If you'd like to send Steven a note, address your email to info at wisdomonline.org.

You can use that address to ask Steven a question about the Bible or share a comment about our ministry. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for taking the time to be with us today. Join us next time for more wisdom for the heart. We'll see you next time.