Psalm 127:2

"It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep."

This is a lesson that Jesus would teach later - look at the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, etc. Yet, stated as David puts it, it seems a bit strange. It is fine to say not to worry, but rising early and staying up late are hallmarks of industrious behavior, no?

Ah, but it's not industry that's being knocked here. Not industry at all. Sitting up is not hard work. eating the bread of sorrows is not labor of any kind. This is mere fretting. There are times when there is no action to be taken. There are times we are nervous and afraid and we sit up or sleep in fits and we do nothing, but we worry. This, we are told, is a waste - vain. It doesn't affect the outcome of whatever we are worried about. To give a scenario I've been through a couple of times - say you're up for a job and you'e going to find out tomorrow whether you got it or not. Will you fret the whole night long? Say, even better, that you DON'T get the job. Will that be a second night lost to sleeplessness? Will you fret then? But you shouldn't. God is ready to ive those he loves sleep. Avail yourself of it.

Then there is the mater of the word "Vain". Of course, "useless" is what is meant. But what of the secondary meaning as in conceited? Perhaps there is something of that too. Self-absorbed, ego-cenrtic, thinking that the world revolves around your troubles or that you can change things if only you chew off a bit more of that Sorrow bread. Jesus seems to suggest something like this meaning in hi version where he goes on to say that you can't add a cubit to your height. I do believe I'm stretching things here, but I thought I'd toss it out.