What Happens When We Let Go

In 2013, neuroscientist Dr. Maiken Nedergaard at the University of Rochester made a startling discovery about why we sleep. For years, scientists puzzled over this — sleep seems evolutionarily wasteful, hours spent unconscious and vulnerable. Nedergaard found the answer: while we sleep, our brain cells actually shrink by nearly 60 percent, opening channels for cerebrospinal fluid to rush through and flush out toxic waste products, including the proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease. The brain cleanses itself. But only while we sleep. Only when we have surrendered control.

You cannot force this process. You cannot hurry it. You have to let go.

There is something deeply spiritual in that. We live in a culture that prizes vigilance, self-sufficiency, and constant striving. Yet the Almighty wired into our very biology a nightly rhythm of surrender — a biological reminder that we are not the ones in charge of our own restoration.

The psalmist understood this long before neuroscience did: "He grants sleep to those He loves" (Psalm 127:2).

God does His most profound renewing work not when we are white-knuckling our way through life, but when we trust Him enough to release our grip. Just as the brain can only be cleansed in the quiet of sleep, the Most High often does His deepest work in the seasons when we stop managing and simply rest in Him.

Trust is not passive weakness. It is the act of surrender that makes renewal possible.