Sleep Working
Personal Matters
I was encouraging a friend the other day in the context of giving the best part of his day to the Lord. Like me, he is a “morning person”. I have learned over the years to arise very soon after I wake and hit the streets beginning my day with songs of praise to God in Christ. This is a definite priority before going to intercession; for “The Lord must come first.” This pattern of devotion presents a practical problem for my friend because his wife is an “evening person” and he has felt obligated to stay up and wait until she is ready to come to bed. This means that instead of spending time with Jesus of a morning while the rest of the house is still asleep tiredness is keeping him in bed. I could sense that something was amiss in his situation, and counselled him to go to bed and let his wife come to join him in the dark. This is a naturally wise strategy, but it was what I became aware of next that surprised me and which I believe was a word from the Lord for this devout brother, and for many of us.
Working in the Dark
The notion that God is a “sleep worker” goes back to the very beginning of the human race. “So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adamno suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribsand then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.23 The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman”, for she was taken out of man.’” (Gen 2:20-23). When all of Adam’s efforts were ended the LORD placed him in a situation of total incapacity, then he worked the miracle of woman, a pure gift to man.
Whatever the physiology of sleep, it is certain that God is working in us while we are slumbering. His Spirit was forming us in our mother’s wombs long before we (or she) were aware of it (Ps 139:13). Nightly the Spirit of grace (Heb 10:29) is actively working in our cells and souls to refresh us. The Lord is not working only to renew us physically and emotionally, but to strengthen us for the next day’s “good works he has prepared beforehand that we might walk in them” (Eph 2:10). Whether awake or asleep the nature of God’s work in us excludes striving. Paul hits the right key when he describes his apostolic ministry as enabled “with all the energy Christ powerfully works within me” (Col 1:29).
Beloved Sleep
“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.” (Ps 127:2). Awake or asleep God loves us the same and is dynamically at work in our lives. I remember some years ago awaking with a distinct and pleasant consciousness that the Lord had been watching over my night and waiting for me to stir so that he might share the day with me. This certainly was an experience like that of Jeremiah, “At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.” (Jer 31:26). The context of the prophet’s experience is the great new covenant message of restoration (Jer 31:31-34). As a sign of the cosmic renewal that he was to bring the LORD blessed his prophet with the experience of sweet slumber.
In Christ “we are blessed in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6) and are recipients of all the new covenant promises (Heb 10:15-17). As Jesus rested asleep in the Father’s love whilst demonically induced storms stirred up the Sea of Galilee (Matt 8:23-27) we too may rest in God’s everlasting arms, whether awake or asleep (Deut 33:27). Why then are we like the disciples in the boat with Jesus, with our eyes and our ears attuned to the turbulent circumstances of life fearing that we will perish. We must turn our eyes away from the world and looking only to the Lord share “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16; Heb 12:2).
Application
Jesus never considered the 1/3rd of his life that was sleep devoid of the presence of his Father, and today he remembers with fondness that dimension of his earthly humanity. The activist culture of work and Church today which so highly recognises and rewards performance is in conflict with the dominion of Christ. The life that God designed for us as his kingdom children is deeply counter cultural to the norm (Mark 10:15). The Lord is wishing to bring to us a deeper revelation of his sensitivity to our human needs. Whilst the revelation of God the “sleep worker” may sound strange and unintelligible to our generation it promises rest and restoration both to the children of God and to a harassed and exhausted world. How do we embrace such a promise? “Only believe” (Mark 5:36).