We’ve all been there: the middle of the night and we’re wide awake. Thinking, planning, worrying, wrestling. What if…? What if not…? How can I…? How can I not…? Should I…? Should I not…? The same mind that is saying I must sleep is asking questions that demand an answer, a solution, a resolution, or at the least a decision to stop thinking!

At moments – or hours – like these I’m reminded that I am not in control. If the future of the world, or the balance of my life is up to me… we’re all in a lot of trouble! Lasting security isn’t going to come from my efforts to figure life all out and take control. Believe me, I’ve tried!

Night wrestling can be as simple as fearing I’m not going to be able to wake up on time – especially if I don’t go to sleep NOW! – or as complex as wondering how a broken relationship will ever be restored. Sometimes the wrestling even goes beyond here and now. And that’s where we find Tim in chapter 7 of The Bridge from OneDayBow.

After Tim’s serious conversation with Emma (chapter 6), the Bridge was definitely on his mind. Emma had given him a lot to think about, but before we get the idea that this is just a recent interest for Tim, you might want to read chapter 7 again. Emma was not the first person that Tim knew who had crossed the Bridge. He had a Grandpa who loved him enough to tell him the truth and encouraged him to seriously consider the King: “You only have one nooma, so think before you choose. Meet the King at OneDayBow to gain what you can’t lose.” And there were others who’d crossed the Bridge and met the King and gained a new nooma!

Words long forgotten were remembered by Tim that sleepless night, but they brought with them a sudden question: How good do you have to be to cross the Bridge and meet this King? The wrestling continued as Tim realized his inability to earn the right to live in that Kingdom. Tim needed more than a firm decision and the physical ability to cross the Bridge; he needed assurance that the King would forgive his wrongs and accept him in His Kingdom. I think it was more than a coincidence that Tim spotted the answer to his concerns in the form of a partly folded note from Emma, right there beside his bed.
“All who come to Me in faith, I will not send away.” The King’s Son made that promise! Tim decided to pray. In those words Tim found the courage to pray and the peace that only comes from knowing the King is good, right and trustworthy. “I believe you are the Truth – that’s my security.”

With that, Tim’s wrestling ended. What seemed scary and uncertain before looked different in the light of Who the King is. Decision made to trust the King, sleep was just a minute away.

How about you? Do you wrestle in the night? Have you met the Savior Jesus? Are you questioning if He will let you in, after all… Question no further: we enter His Kingdom by faith, purely by His grace, and each step that follows is a step of faith. What does that mean? We trust Him one step at a time, one decision at a time, one minute at a time – for whatever we face daily, or wrestle with at night