7 Prayers for Sleepless Nights

This Morning

I woke up at 5:30 am this morning. That’s two-and-a-half hours before my alarm. (I’m not a morning person.) Worse yet, I couldn’t fall back asleep.

My mind immediately started racing with tasks to do for church, problems to solve, and curriculum to write. I stayed in bed and listened to some thanksgiving psalms (111 – 117) but eventually just got up and started my day.

My Story of Sleeplessness

I wish I could say that this was the first time, but it wasn’t. I started having trouble sleeping in the Fall of 2020, during the height of the pandemic.

Pastoring a church was the hardest it had ever been, and my brain never seemed to turn off. I was filled with worry, anxiety, and fear, as well as sheer exhaustion.

Sometimes it would be 3 am and other times 5 am, but one thing happened every time—thoughts would start racing through my mind. And rarely were they good, positive, affirming thoughts.

Discovering Late-Night Prayers

After trying a few options—staying in bed, listening to an audio bible, getting up, praying, working—I stumbled across a prayer app called Daily Prayer, described as an “Anglican guide to spiritual rhythms.”

Each day, it provides prayers for morning, midday, evening, and late-night, as well as the Lord’s Prayer, a confessional prayer, and Scripture readings. (RiverLife folks will even recognize a few of these from our services.)

All the components are valuable, but it was the late-night prayers that captured my heart and offered some peace to my soul. I started reciting these prayers right before I went to sleep, usually twice—once to read and once to recite.

Remarkably (but not really), I started sleeping through the night. While I didn’t say these prayers every night, I did so often.

What’s even more astonishing is these prayers written hundreds of years ago seemed incredibly relevant during COVID. Sometimes a line or even a single word would bring me to tears because they felt so poignant and appropriate for our life and times.

5 Late Night Prayers

These prayers all come from Anglican liturgy and the Book of Common Prayer, resources that have guided Christians into God’s presence for over 500 years.

Here are seven of my favorite late-night prayers.

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen

Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Visit this place, O Lord, we pray, and drive far from it the snares of the enemy; may your holy angels dwell with us and guard us in peace, and may your blessing be always upon us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen.

O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, and the strength of those who labor: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

O Lord, support us all the day long, through this trouble-filled life, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen.

Father, in Your mercy, dispel the darkness of this night, and let your servant sleep in peace, that at the dawn of a new day I may wake with joy in Your Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen

My Hope for You

If you’ve woken up in the middle of the night full of anxiety, try reciting one of these prayers before you go to sleep. May they bring you restful slumber and trust in the God of the universe.

Sleep well, my friends.