The Lord Sustained Me (Psalm 3:5)

“I lay down and slept. I woke again for the Lord sustained me.”
– Psalm 3:5

What a great verse Psalm 3:5 is. The context here, David writes this Psalm. He’s fleeing from his son, Absalom. Things are not going well, and so he is desperately in need of sustenance, of strength, of his life to be preserved. He writes, in Psalm 3:5, “I lay down and slept. I woke again for the Lord sustained me.” David realizes the only reason he wakes up in the morning is if God sustains him. The only reason. When he goes to bed at night, the next morning after hours of unconscious sleep, that he is now conscious again and breathing and living is because the Lord sustained him. The same reality is true for every single one of our lives.

Psalm 3:5 Teaches Us that God Sustains Us

You woke up this morning because God sustained you. Let that transform your perspective on today and every day.

This morning I woke up. You woke up today for one reason: the Lord sustained you. You would not have woken up if the Lord had not sustained you. I would not have woken up if the Lord had not sustained me. I wouldn’t have life today if God hadn’t sustained me through the night and woken me up in the morning. Sleep is not a natural process. Sleep is dependent on supernatural provision. Only God can, when we close our eyes at night and drift off into unconscious sleep and then we wake up, we need to realize as soon as we open our eyes, the Lord sustained me. I lay down and slept. I woke again for the Lord sustained me.

So just let that transform your perspective on today and every day, the only reason you wake up in the morning.  I encourage especially those of you who, like David in this Psalm, are walking through some really challenging times, and you’ve sometimes wondered do I have the strength to go on? No, but every day you have a God who sustains you.

This Verse Thanks Good For His Sustenance

So we pray. God, thank you for your sustenance. We acknowledge in prayer right now that apart from your sustenance, none of us would have woken up today. That the only reason any of us woke up right now is because you sustained us last night, and you gave us breath and consciousness when we woke up this morning. So thank you for your daily sustenance.

We pray that, with this stewardship of life you’ve given to us on this day, you would be glorified and honored in us. We know there’s nothing we can do today apart from you. And we can’t breathe today apart from you, and we don’t want to do anything apart from you. We don’t want to breathe. We don’t want to work. Don’t want to talk. We don’t want to think in dependence on ourselves. God, we want to be walking in total dependence on you all day long because you are our sustainer. You are our strength.

Psalm 3:5 Prays For God To Help Those Who Need Him

I pray especially for those who are walking through difficult, challenging times right now, who are walking through valleys in their life. God, I pray for your sustenance in them. I pray for your strength in them. I pray for your sustaining hope and sustaining joy and sustaining love and sustaining mercy in their lives.

As they lay down their head on the pillow at night after a long, hard day and they’re not sure what the next day holds, God, may they look to you as their sustenance. As they go to sleep and then when they wake up in the morning and your mercies are altogether new, may they look to you and see your sustaining grace in their lives, your sustaining power for their lives. We praise you, oh God, as our great day-by-day sustainer. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.