Sleep and Waking

God has created human beings to experience a rhythm of life from sleeping and waking. The Bible often refers to this experience in literal and metaphorical ways. A few of these passages are intriguing and challenging.

Genesis 2:21-22 says that the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; then God took one of Adam's ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Adam's sleep was induced by God, and during his sleep one of the most important events in his life occurred. After he awoke, God presented the first woman to this man.

1 Kings 19:3-18 relates the story that Elijah the prophet fled for fear from the wicked Jezebel. On his journey, Elijah sat down under a juniper tree exhausted, and was so perplexed that he asked that he might die. Soon, Elijah fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and told him to get up [wake up] and eat. Elijah ate and drank the meal the angel provided, and this gave Elijah the strength he needed for forty days and forty night on the way to Mount Horeb, where the Lord appeared to Elijah and assured Elijah that he would sustain him.

The psalmists in Psalm 3:5 and 4:8 are faced with great danger from threatening enemies, but because they trust in God, they serenely lie down and sleep, then wake the next day refreshed to face their experiences by God's presence and help.

Psalm 13:3; 1 Corinthians 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; 5:10; and several other passages describe "sleep" as "death." This is indeed a metaphor, but for the Christian, in reality, sleep is not the end of life, but a transition to a new awakening, a resurrection from the dead.

Romans 13:11; Ephesians 5:14; and other biblical passages describes "sleep" as spiritual inactivity or regression. In this context, the call of God is to "wake up" and become alert to new spiritual life and service to God and humanity.

May our sleep in God is sweet because we trust in him. And when we are spiritually dorman and stagnant, may God's Holy Spirit motivate us to active service.

John Willis