Terror by Night, Dread by Day

Sleep with clean hands, either kept clean all day by integrity, or washed clean at night by repentance.

– John Donne

Jennifer¹ sat across from me. She was brought in for counseling, but she was closed off. She had already seen many counselors and specialists and was told not much else could be done for her. When she eventually began to open up, she expressed a life-dominating fear that was so pronounced she could barely cope with everyday situations like making phone calls or being involved in class discussions. In the daytime, her fear would cause her to freeze completely, and, at night, she was plagued by terrors—most of which involved significant devastating events that happened to her in the foster system.

As Jennifer sat in my office, I was forced to ask myself, “Can I help someone who has been to all the professionals?”

As I turned to the Bible, I was reminded afresh that God has given us hope for life-dominating fears, including night terrors. Scripture is sufficient, promising comfort, hope, and peace to those who will look to God and entrust themselves to Him. Some consider night terrors to be beyond the scope of biblical counselors and recommend seeking medical help, but Jennifer tried that to no avail. She needed something more. She needed God’s Word.

Secular Definitions and Approach

According to the DSM-5, “Sleep terrors are episodes of partial, abrupt awakening from deep sleep, during the first third of the night, or the first third of the major sleep episode, accompanied by inconsolable screaming and crying, and autonomic arousal. There are similarities with a daytime panic attack, in that these symptoms are accompanied by feelings of dread and a desperate desire to escape.”² Also, “People diagnosed with PTSD frequently experience repetitive nightmares. One study indicated that up to 71% of people diagnosed with PTSD may have nightmares.”³

Some theorists think there is a link between unresolved memories and experiences, and often medication is prescribed in order to eliminate the memories. One blood pressure medication (Prazosin) has this off-label use. Other treatments include trauma therapy, CBT and EMDR.⁴ However, there is still no consensus on solving the problem of night terrors.

Helping Jennifer from Scripture

Night terrors and nightmares are indeed closely connected to fear and dread as a result of experiences and memories. In fact, daytime dread often produces nighttime terror. This was the case for Jennifer; her daytime fears impacted her ability to get to sleep and stay asleep, which resulted in her staying up late and not being able to function during the day.

Since Jennifer was dominated by fear, we focused on that first. As I began to work with her, she learned to seek comfort and peace in God through Psalm 91.⁵

A Refuge For Me (1-2)

¹ He who abides in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to Yahweh, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”

The Psalmist begins by declaring his own faith in Yahweh. As Jennifer and I read this portion, we took the time to identify the four metaphors for security and the four divine names present in these verses. The four metaphors for security are shelter, shadow, refuge, and fortress, which are found in “The Most High,” “The Almighty,” “Yahweh,” “My God.”

This pointed Jennifer to the character of God. From here, she was able to take one attribute and one metaphor and apply them each day. She did this by writing out a metaphor and one of God’s names to meditate on throughout the day. This was designed to equip her for the moment of temptation. When tempted to fear, she was to meditate on the Most High who shelters her!

A Refuge For You (3-13)

In this section, the Psalmist applies the truth he asserted in verses 1-3. I led Jennifer to take note of the singular “you” throughout this section, to encourage her to understand and embrace these truths for herself.

³ For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the destructive pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you will take refuge; His truth is a large shield and bulwark.
⁵ You will not be afraid of terror by night, Or arrow that flies by day;
⁶ Of pestilence that moves in darkness, Or of destruction that devastates at noon.

Here, we identified the unseen nature of the danger, the “snare,” and the “pestilence that moves in darkness,” because Jennifer often faced fears of the unseen in her imagination, anticipating something bad might happen. Her growth work was to take her thoughts captive by recognizing unseen fears that seemed big to her. Then she was to apply vs 7-10.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you.
⁸ You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked.
⁹ For you have made Yahweh—my refuge, The Most High—your dwelling place.
¹⁰ No evil will befall you, And no plague will come near your tent.

These verses make it clear that nothing happens apart from God’s sovereign will. Remembering God’s sovereignty and promises of protection was of great comfort to Jennifer as she wrestled through her fears. However, we did need to spend some time working through what safety means for the Christian, that it is not the absence of suffering or bad things, but rather security in God, who works all things for good (Rom 8:28-29) Finally, we worked through the end of the psalm:

¹¹ For He will command His angels concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will bear you up, Lest you strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread upon the fierce lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

Here, Jennifer learned that God’s servants are not mere survivors, but victors! Those who are united to Christ are more than conquerors, because none of our suffering can separate from the love of God (Rom 8:37). Jennifer learned to rest in this truth and battle Satan’s temptations by following the example of Christ as seen in Matthew 4, where the devil tempted him to arrogance with the verses of this psalm in the wilderness narrative. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jennifer began fighting the lies with the truth of God’s Word. And, the promises of verses 14-16 were crucial.

God’s Promise (14-16)

¹⁴ “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will protect him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
¹⁵ “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in his distress; I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ “With a long life I will satisfy him And I will show him My salvation.”

These verses contain eight promises that are a result of our covenantal relationship with the Most High. Jennifer would list and pray these specific promises to grow more dependent on God. In addition to meditating on and praying through these promises, Jennifer’s growth work included actively calling on God in her fearful distress. This gave her something to put into action as she renewed her mind with the truth and reoriented her heart toward God.

Informing Jennifer’s Conscience

One more area that needed to be examined is Jennifer’s conscience, because troubling memories and dreams are sometimes due to a troubled conscience. This is not to say people are necessarily guilty or to blame for their suffering, but that something in what they’ve experienced has led to a troubled conscience. As I worked with Jennifer, this proved true; the theme of guilt would arise again and again. In particular, she felt guilty she did not do more to prevent or avoid some of her painful situations.

Arbitrator and Judge

According to William Perkins, the conscience acts as lawyer, jury, and judge.⁶ For Jennifer, her conscience was using an unbiblical standard, so it condemned her even though she did not sin against God’s standard. So, she felt the need to punish herself by cutting and burning her legs with rubber. Therefore, her conscience needed to be remade, renewed and regulated according to God’s Word.

Remade

The remedy to a guilty conscience is the blood of Christ applied. (Heb 5:7-10, Pro 28:13, 1 John 1:9): “For nothing can stanch or stay the terrors of conscience, but the blood of the immaculate Lamb of God; nothing can satisfy the judgment of the conscience, much less the most severe judgment of God, but the only satisfaction of Christ.”⁷

From the first session with Jennifer, it became obvious that she was a new Christian. So, her conscience had to be remade by personally spending time in God’s Word. She was also receiving faithful teaching and seeing faithful examples by going to church, Bible study, and a good youth group.

Renewed

We are told to be transformed by the renewing of the mind and that a good conscience is the fruit of faith. (Rom 12:1-8). Therefore, Jennifer had to take her painful memories to the touchstone of faith by believing His promises and warnings and handing her fears over to God. As Jennifer slowly learned to do this, her memories became less emotionally volatile and she experienced more peace from God.

Regulated

Lastly, our conscience must be kept. We keep our conscience by continually informing it with the Word and by killing sinful desires. We keep our conscience by setting our minds on things above (Col 3).

As Jennifer grew in her knowledge and practiced what she was learning, I witnessed her grow in keeping her conscience. One area she took initiative was the music she would listen to. She made a habit of putting on God honoring music, and the former music eventually became so uncomfortable to her that she could not enjoy it any longer. Over time, Jennifer’s conscience was remade, renewed, and regulated as she submitted to the Word. As a result, she began to realize that, apart from living under an alternative standard, she was not guilty of sinning against God’s standard. The process of taking her memories to Christ and praying for a renewed conscience bore fruit in all the other areas of her life, which has further informed her conscience so that it is continually calibrated as she moves forward.

A Practical Plan

This practical plan was helpful for Jennifer as she sought to rid her life of night terrors: pre-bedtime liturgy and running to God as refuge when terror would come.

The pre-bedtime liturgy consists of 4 steps:

1. Scripture Reading: Psalms in particular
2. Self-examination: confession and repentance. Not morbid introspection, but examining the conscience and taking concerns to the Lord
3. Prayers of Thanksgiving: remembering the promises of the Gospel
4. Ongoing Meditation: God-honoring music or audio Bible.

When terror would come, Jennifer was instructed to get up rather than lying in bed and stewing on the dream. She would repeat pre-bedtime liturgy and thank God for the opportunity to meditate on His Word even if it means giving up sleep. The next morning, she would avoid hitting the snooze button, get up, pray for God to sustain her throughout the day.

In The End

Jennifer found peace. It was hard won, but she learned to depend on Christ and His Word and found rest in Him. She learned to cast her cares on God and repent of fears that were filled with lies. Then, she was able to sleep. Her terror by night and dread by day slowly dissolved. As Richard Baxter said in his Christian Directory:

Frightful and often sinful dreams do follow sinful doubts and fears. But if you sweeten your last thoughts with the love of Christ, and the remembrance of your former mercies, or the foresight of eternal joys, or can confidently cast them and yourselves upon some promise, it will tend to the quietness of your sleep, and to the savoriness of your dreams: and if you should die before morning, will it not be most desirable, that your last thoughts be holy?

1. Not her real name, some details are changed to protect her privacy. ↩︎
2. American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2013). ↩︎
3. Karine Levrier, Alain Marchand, Geneviève Belleville, Béatrice-Pierre Dominic, and Stéphane Guay, “Nightmare Frequency, Nightmare Distress and the Efficiency of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” Archives of Trauma Research, May 12, 2016, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5078833/#:~:text=Up%20to%2071%25%20of%20trauma%20victims%20diagnosed%20with,only%202%25%20to%205%25%20of%20the%20general%20population. ↩︎
4. Simon Kung, Zelde Espinel, and Maria I. Lapid, “Treatment of Nightmares with Prazosin: A Systematic Review,” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, September 2012, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538493/. ↩︎
5. Unless otherwise specified all Bible references are from Legacy Standard Bible (LSB) (Irvine, CA: Three Sixteen Publishing, 2021) ↩︎
6. William Perkins, The Works of William Perkins. Ed. by J. Stephen Yuille, Joel R. Beeke, and Derek W. H. Thomas. Vol. 8. (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books), 2019. ↩︎
7. Ibid. ↩︎