This is what some of you have been waiting for a long time: a theological rationale for sleep! Finally, you might think, someone to biblically justify my desire for slumber and napping! Well, that’s not exactly what I’m going to do, as much as I’d also like to hear that. But I do want to point us to a reality behind sleep that we don’t often think of—something that digs deeper to issues of anxiety and trust. Good sleep can be an example of healthy trust. Do you really trust God? This has been a question that I’ve been dealing with personally all my life, but with particular emphasis the past few months. Do I really trust him? What does trust look like? It’s so tempting to try to control things myself—to say I trust him but to act like everything’s up to me. Trust isn’t about holding on; it’s about letting go.
Sometimes I find it difficult to sleep at night. Sunday nights are the worst for me. I have an overactive mind sometimes and on Sunday nights I evaluate and reflect on everything that day from the service. “Did I really say that? I hope people don’t get the wrong idea. Crumbs, I didn’t get to greet so and so.” So on and so forth my mind continues rummaging through the events and non-events of the day. And sleep eludes my aching body and weary spirit because of a restless mind. Do you ever have trouble sleeping because your mind just won’t shut-up?
Interestingly, many Christian thinkers recognize sleep as a prime example of trust and dependency. When we sleep, we let go. We abandon control and activity for several hours. Going to sleep is an act of trust: God can keep the world going without me for a few hours every night. In the Scriptures, poetic voices recognize the sacred trust involved in sleep. While we need to sleep, God doesn’t: “He who keeps you will not slumber; The Lord is your keeper” (Psalm 121:3, 5). Trust involves believing that God is far more able than we are, and that while he desires to use us to help accomplish his purposes; he doesn’t want to run us ragged. He doesn’t need to push us to the limits. He doesn’t want us to lose sleep wondering about what more we needed to get done and what might happen if we take the night off. In sleep and rest we acknowledge that God is in control even when we’re taking a break. Sleep teaches us to trust.
This gets me thinking that maybe some of my trouble sleeping is due to a difficulty trusting God. Do I really trust him? Now I’m not advocating we all become inactive blobs, sleeping all day and deflecting all responsibility for our lives and God’s plan. We need to be active, to be faithful and obedient. But we also need to rest. Sometimes the exercise we need is to practice trust.
In Genesis 24 we find the story of Abraham’s servant going to find a wife for Isaac. After God leads the servant to Rebekah, and her family also recognizes God’s direction, the servant heads back home with Isaac’s soon-to-be bride. The scene changes in v 62 (yeah, it’s a long chapter) and we move to consider Isaac for the first time in the story. Verse 63 is significant: “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and say, and behold, there were camels coming.” Isaac didn’t get to choose his own wife. Instead his father’s servant went out to find her. Isaac has to stay at home wondering how this will all turn out. What’s she going to be like? What’s she going to look like? Will she like me? Will I like her? Are we going to be compatible? What if she doesn’t enjoy deer meat and fishing as I do?
However, instead of incessant worry over the outcome, Isaac goes into nature to pray. In the calm field, in the cool of the descending night, he goes outside to meditate. He considers all God has done for his parents—God’s faithfulness to his promises. He maybe remembers how God spared him from being killed as a sacrifice. He knows that there’s a promise from God bestowed on his own life. He prays that God would give him a pure and courageous heart like his father. He releases his hold on the future in a prayer of surrender. Then he lifts up his eyes and “behold, there were camels coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.” While he’s praying and contemplating, God is in the process of blessing him. Trust manifests in prayer and rest.
We don’t always know what’s happening when we pray and meditate and spend time with God. But we can know that God is at work—maybe behind the scenes—maybe not always obviously visible, but he’s active even when we’re simply praying—even when we’re resting or sleeping. Perhaps the change that’s needed isn’t from an active mind to an inactive one, but from a mind obsessed with what we are doing to one centered on what God is doing. One day we might open our eyes from prayer and see his blessing before us. Maybe that’s what happens every morning when we wake up, whether we’re aware of it or not.
Words of Light 