Sleep

This is my first post in a while and i hope you are blessed by it.


Each night we collapse into our beds, and eventually fall asleep. Then we wake up in the morning and start another day.

I have been reading Humility; True Greatness by CJ Mahaney (great book! Highly Recommend it) and in it he talked a little about sleep. Sometimes we see sleep as something we do every night to restore our bodies. What we fail to do is see where and how much, God is working in sleep.

When we go to our beds to sleep we often pray and thank God for the day and praise him, etc. But sometimes (at least for me) i fail to pray for my sleep. Now you might think, "Why pray for sleep?" Well, if you share this view i think this post will help you see the importance of God in sleep.

We don't normally see sleep as a gift but more a need. In Humility, CJ tells us that sleep is a gift. Sleep can only be given by God, and without it we are energy-less. We need sleep to restore our bodies, we need it rest our muscles, we need it cause we're human. What we fail to see is that only God can give us the gift of sleep. We think it is something natural and all controlled by us and our bodies, but we are wrong. It all comes from God. A great way to acknowledge this, CJ says, is to thank God for and pray to receive this gift of sleep every night before we go to bed.


While in sleep there are two things that we don't know are happening but are evident in the morning.


1) Sustaining
"I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me." (Psalm 3:5 ESV)
You may think, "Why does God need to sustain us?" 3 subpoints.
  
    a) While asleep we are almost completely helpless. A 3 alarm fire could break out and we might not awake and escape. If God is sustaining us he could keep the fire from happening but even if the fire were happening had he not been sustaining us we would be dead. He sustains us and would wake us up allowing us to escape. 


   b) When we are asleep some people don't know it but at times if you snore, you might snore really loud then not breath for a second or two. And i mean stop breathing. Millions of American's think they sleep fine but when tested they find that they stop breathing 15+ each night! And when i say stop breathing i mean for 3 or 4 seconds they are not breathing at all whatsoever. Thats scary! These people could die! It is only by God's grace and sustainment that they are alive in the morning. 


   c) We need to be sustained in sleep. God sustains us in many ways during the night but he also keeps us alseep. If God doesn't keep us asleep we won't experience his full gift of sleep. Now at times we will wake up in the middle of the night for reasons, but other than that it is not us keep us asleep but God.


2) He restores us. Each night as we sleep, dreaming of ice cream and unicorns, God restores our muscles, joints, bones, our soul, heart, and mind. And he does so so that the next day our refreshed body can praise him more than the day before. 


Let us continually thank God and give him the glory for the gift of sleep we receive each night of our lives until the day were we need not sleep. Amen.




Again, all thoughts, comments and additions are welcome. Thanks!