There’s a joke that goes something like this: what do you call it when you can’t sleep, so you get up at midnight and make yourself a snack? Insom-nom-nom-ia.

Get it? Cue the rim shot.

But I can speak from experience about insomnia. I have those nights from time to time. It seems like the more I want to sleep, the more I try to sleep, the more awake I become. Sometimes, those thoughts in your head just won’t lie down, kinda like me when I was little and told I needed to take a nap.

But imagine if those nights are God trying to get your attention. Instead of becoming increasingly annoyed and agitated, try using it as a time for hearing from God at a time when you’re least distracted and have the least amount of stuff going on.

I think about little Samuel in the middle of the night when God kept calling his name. He kept thinking it was Eli, but finally realized it was God. Eli instructed him for when the next time God called to respond, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Maybe that’s a good prayer for the middle of the night when sleep won’t come. Not that I’m an expert at that. I’m more the agitated forgetting to pray type.

But hopefully the next time, I will remember that prayer that consists of seven words: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.