“While You Are Sleeping”
May 17, 2022
My great-nephew, William, can fall hard asleep anywhere! Some people can do as William does, while others struggle falling asleep and staying asleep, and even setting a time to go asleep. Some of us struggle falling asleep because the worries of this world—financial, health, and work, keep us awake.
As a result, some of us contemplate various tactics to achieve restful sleep and buy weighted blankets and noise machines, and maybe even count sheep. These tactics may help some, but if you are someone who tosses and turns throughout the night, the blanket may not work. Or if you have trouble, as I do, getting to bed at a set time, you’ll never reap the calming benefits of counting sheep or turning on the sound machine unless you make it to the bedroom.
William’s ability to embrace sleep, and my inability to do so, reminds me of Psalm 127:2—
2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Bodily sleep is God’s gift to His beloved, and it is pointless to burn the candle at both ends, getting up early and going to bed late because we are anxious about the work we need to do. Whenever we are so self-reliant, and leave God’s purposes and help out of the picture, we experience this vanity. It is pointless to worry and lose sleep, because Psalm 127:1 reads,
Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
God is not saying that we should not build, labor, or guard. The work of man has its place, but it is of little ultimate use without the work and blessing of God. The things we build in this life, and spend our time on, mean nothing if God isn’t in it. We need to let God be the one who builds our careers and watches over our financial investments, and guards our health and families.
And while we are sleeping, He is working on our situation. He, who neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:3–4), works the night shift for us as we sleep. We can be at peace knowing that God’s hand is at work and His eye watches even as we sleep.
Now I am going to look for a chair, and if William isn’t already in it, I’m going to take a nap!
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