The Night Seasons

Here I sit. It's 2:47am. I've been awake since 2am.  Once again, I decided to read my Bible and once again the Lord has used this time to teach me.  Here is what I read:

Psalm 17:3  Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

God knows my heart and how much I complain...especially when I lose out on my sleep!  So here He is testing me in the night.  I can't say with the Psalmist that he shall find nothing, I need sanctifying in this area of my tongue.  I see that the Psalmist had to PURPOSE that his mouth would not transgress.  It's not a "let go and let God" proposition here.  We can't sit back on beds of flowery ease and expect God to carry us through to sanctification without some effort on our parts.  We have some work to do...we must PURPOSE what we will do or not do as the case may be and then ask God for the strength to carry out that purpose. God's work of sanctification in the believer requires active participation on the part of His children.  

It is interesting, I was thinking to myself how dry my spiritual life has become lately.  And now, God has been waking me up in the middle of the night and I'm finding it a most profitable time to read my Bible as all is quiet in the house and I do not have the distractions of the day before me.  Granted, doing the night shift and the day shift too is wearing and I trust at some point God will give good sleep again, but I am making the most of these night time wakings.