when thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid, but thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet.
This promise of fearless nights closes a father's appeal in Proverbs 3 to hold on to sound wisdom. Verse 23 promises a safe walk by day, and verses 25-26 promise calm when sudden terror comes. So what makes a person able to lie down without dread? Is that rest something we earn, or something God gives?
What to Keep in View
God promises this sleep to a person who keeps hold of something. One writer explains the two images of verse 22, quoting an older translation:
The original creation is a firm basis for the instruction of verse 21: "My son, let them not depart from your eyes — keep sound wisdom and discretion." Keeping them is the only thing that fits our origin. It is also "life to your soul and grace to your neck" (v. 22). The soul is the centre of our emotions. The neck stands for the way a person responds to a higher authority. It may be stiff-necked or rebellious, or it may value and submit to the grace of God.
Safety You Can Feel
The same wisdom guides the walk by day and the rest at night. It also keeps confidence in the Lord alive in the heart:
It will make us walk safely and not stumble on the way. It is the daylight the Lord speaks of, the path of God where God is (compare John 11:9-10; Phil. 4:8-9). And when we lie down, it will be in felt safety and peace. This leads to another point. Walking like this keeps confidence in the Lord alive in the heart. "If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God." … We do not know what is coming. But we know that the Lord is there, and that He rules and orders all. Nothing simply happens to us: God's hand is in everything, and we trust Him.
The Night and the Storm
Verse 24 belongs to a chain of results. Each one follows from keeping God's ways in view:
Change is a snare, especially to the young. So Jehovah's wise ways were no more to depart from their eyes than they were to be wise in their own eyes. Life inside, honour outside, would follow. The walk would be secure, and the foot would not stumble. Nor would the night bring fear, but sweet sleep. Nor would alarm take them by surprise when the storm falls on the wicked. Jehovah is the confidence against all snares and terrors.
A Clear Conscience Sleeps Well
One writer points to David, who slept best in his worst circumstances:
Where there is peace — such peace as peace with God and conscience — nothing pleasant can be lacking. David goes to bed happy when he had nothing for supper but the gladness God put into his heart. He promises himself a better night's rest than all those who feast on the world's good food… This same peace with God, enjoyed in the conscience, adds to the comfort of the body. Now David can sleep sweetly when he lies on a hard bed… The title of the psalm tells us when David had this sweet night's rest. It was not when he lay on his soft bed in his grand palace at Jerusalem. It was when he fled for his life from his own son Absalom, who had turned against him, and perhaps had to lie out in the open field, under the open sky.
Rest Received, Not Earned
One writer comments on the words "He gives to His beloved sleep":
We can never gain quiet of mind and restful enjoyment as the fruit of our own toil. God is the giver of all rest to His beloved. Once they accept this simple truth, they stop worrying and stop their anxious labour. Whatever the outlook, they are kept in perfect peace, with their minds stayed upon Him.
The Man Who Slept in the Storm
The clearest picture of lying down without fear is the Lord asleep in a boat that was filling with water:
True manhood was there, and more than that: the Man of perfect trust. Even in such danger He lived out the words of the psalmist, "In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety" (Ps. 4:8). His mind was stayed on Jehovah, so He slept the sleep of complete confidence in God. In this He was unlike Jonah, who slept in guilty shame, and unlike the disciples, who slept for sorrow in the garden of Gethsemane.
Summary
- Keep — the promise follows those who keep sound wisdom in view. It is life inside and grace outside, and the neck either stiffens or submits.
- Walk — the wisdom that keeps the foot from stumbling by day lets the body lie down in felt safety at night.
- Trust — the confidence is not that we know what is coming, but that the Lord is there, ordering everything.
- Conscience — peace with God in the conscience makes a hard bed in an open field sweeter than a palace.
- Receive — rest is never the fruit of our own toil. God gives it to those He loves, as Christ showed when He slept through the storm.