Christ Gives Sleep to His Beloved

Wise men know you can sleep too much. In fact, that memorable proverb appears twice in God’s inspired book:

A little sleep, a little slumber,
     a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
     and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:10–11 and 24:33–34)

For all of history, drunkards and gluttons have slept their way into rags. The lazy have chosen extra slumber over productive labor. Some still fall prey.

But most of us now wrestle with different temptations. We have electric lights. We have pixelated screens. We have caffeine and added sugar. We have endless notifications and a monstrous appetite for entertainment, whether sports, comedy, drama, or news. Maybe you’ve heard the secret of streaming services: Their biggest competitor is your sleep.

Many of us today simply do not sleep enough. It feels inconvenient, unproductive, almost a necessary evil. Even in the church, young, energetic, well-meaning Christians hear stories of our heroes and get the impression Scott Hubbard did:

I read with wonder how Hudson Taylor sometimes rose at 2:00am to read and pray until 4:00am. . . . George Whitefield, too, was known to begin his day well before dawn, sometimes finishing both his devotions and his first sermon by 6:00am. . . . And didn’t the Puritans get just a few hours of sleep a night? The post-Puritan William Law seemed to capture the spirit of the godliest saints when he spoke of “renouncing sleep” to redeem the time.

But we must ask, What were the long-term effects on their health and ministries? Whitefield, for one, was dead at age 55. Calvin slept no more than four hours a night, and died at age 54. And maybe the most revealing query: How early did some of our heroes go to bed to enable their early mornings? We should not assume our bedtimes and gawk at their risings. Many of them may have slept more than we do.

Stoics and Hedonists

A stoical Christian will incline to one approach: sleep as necessity and duty. The hedonist will bring another angle: sleep as gift and joy. Some of us (like myself) call ourselves “Christian Hedonists.” We are convinced by the arresting appeals to joy in Jesus’s teaching (like Matthew 5:12), modeled in his own life (Hebrews 12:2), and applied to Christian ethics (Acts 20:35). We have discovered that God is supremely delightful to the (born-again) human soul, and that our delight in him makes him look good (glorifies him). We are learning to devote our lives to pleasure in God, which overflows to meet the needs of others (love).

Still, sleep remains one of the final frontiers for practical Christian Hedonism. For years, I lived as a pleasure-pursuing Christian, seeking joy in God in the Bible, in prayer, in fellowship and corporate worship — through nature, music and song, even through exercise. But sleep? Oh, what an unfortunate duty! Think how much more time I could put into seeking my joy in God if I didn’t have to sleep!

It has taken me a long time to recondition my late-modern impulses to see that even sleep is an opportunity for joy in God. At least three pieces of the puzzle help me — some more obvious, some less so.

1. God made sleep.

Can you imagine life with no bedtimes? Maybe the child in you fills with wonder at the thought. But linger over that a bit, and the adult in you might soon get tired just considering it.

“Our infinite, untiring Creator made us finite, tiresome creatures.”

God, in his unsearchable wisdom, made our days to revolve around the rhythms of evening and morning. Sleep is not the product of the fall. Adam was a sleeper before he was a sinner (Genesis 2:21). Sleep is God’s idea and good design, to be received as sweet (Proverbs 3:24; Ecclesiastes 5:12) and pleasant (Jeremiah 31:26). Because God doesn’t sleep, we can (Psalm 121:4). In short, our infinite, untiring Creator made us finite, tiresome creatures.

Why would God design humans to spend a third of their lives in such an ungodlike state? John Piper explains:

Once a day God sends us to bed like patients with a sickness. The sickness is a chronic tendency to think we are in control and that our work is indispensable. . . . Sleep is like a broken record that comes around with the same message every day: Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign.

Sleep is acted-out humility. Humility says, “God is God, I am not, and I’m glad about that.” Pride says, “My abilities and efforts are so important. How can I afford to lie down and sleep when so much depends on me?” Every bedtime offers a chance to rehearse our limitations, God’s majesty, and our gladness in him.

2. God gives sleep — and takes it.

God didn’t just make sleep; he gives it. Psalm 127:2 says,

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.

Good sleep is not a feat to be achieved, but a gift to be received. Of course, we are not totally passive, even in sleep. Our habits matter in posturing our bodies (and souls) to receive God’s gift. As Justin Earley comments,

We know all kinds of things that hinder good sleep. Most of them you could predict: late naps, caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, electric light, smartphones, and sugary and rich foods mess up our sleep. Alternatively, a good diet, consistent bedtimes, dark rooms, and exercise help us sleep. (The Body Teaches the Soul, 100)

Our focus here isn’t sleep-hacks but the God who gives sleep — and takes it away. The humbled but faithful Job spoke truly about all divine gifts (including sleep) when he said,

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:21)

When God takes sleep, we genuinely suffer. No sleeper is untouched. We all live and try to sleep in a sin-cursed world. Some suffer vastly more than others. We all have our nights of staring at the ceiling; many suffer seasons; some endure years.

In a fallen world, sleep challenges are complex. Not all sleeplessness is easily traced to sin in our lives or to clear ways that God is working for good in our suffering. As Christians, we can acknowledge that some experience insomnia that needs professional help, that some sleep troubles result in a fresh humility, and that what we think and feel about God (our theology) really can affect our rest.

Whether or not you (happily) acknowledge that God is God and you are not plays no small role in your ability to cease striving and get to bed. How much better might you sleep if you consciously rolled your burdens onto Jesus’s broad shoulders before hitting the pillow?

3. Sleep serves joy in God.

Now the Christian Hedonist impulse comes roaring back. Sleep does more than daily remind us of our limits in contrast to God’s greatness. Tonight’s sleep will help (or hinder) tomorrow’s joy in God. So, Christian Hedonists wield sleep in service of joy in God and loving others.

“Tonight’s sleep will help (or hinder) tomorrow’s joy in God.”

Do you think about sleep like that? You can pursue joy in God not only with an open Bible, and on your knees in prayer, and gathered in corporate worship. We also honor God in our bodies by making use of them according to his design. Lying down to rest readies us to enjoy God more, not less.

To be sure, beyond sleep troubles, God calls us to less sleep some nights, and even some seasons. For instance, when parents have young children, particularly newborns, the call of love might leave us without adequate sleep for months. But few other seasons justify neglecting our creatureliness and the humbling fact that God made us to sleep. Faithful stewardship of our bodies requires rest, and proper sleep is indeed useful in the service of spiritual joy.

So, sanctify your sleep with good habits, and sacrifice your sleep when love calls. Sleeping to the glory of God requires wisdom to read the situation and follow the leading of the Spirit. Most nights that means turning in on time, trusting Jesus to run the universe without your help. And occasionally it means staying out of your comfortable bed or rising from it early for the sake of someone else’s joy.

Pray for Your Sleep

Do you pray for your sleep? In other words, do you seek sleep like a consciously God-dependent Christian, or do you just sleep, like a nonbeliever? Do you make sleep holy through grateful prayer in light of what God says about sleep (1 Timothy 4:4–5)? Every bedtime is a chance to rehearse the basics and freshly acknowledge (and enjoy) the Sovereign of sleep.

Under the reign of Jesus, cultivate your sleep discipline. Don’t squander his gift for poor reasons. Learn from the times you foolishly choose against sleep. And be ready to sacrifice your sleep as an act of love when real needs emerge. It is an act of love to discipline yourself for regular sleep, so that you might be ready to help when needs arise.

Sleep is a gift to be received in service to our joy in God, and to be sacrificed in service to the joy of others. God is most glorified in our sleep when our sleep serves our joy in him, and renews our strength to love others.