To Sleep or Not to Sleep

Definition of sleep

1 : the natural, easily reversible periodic state of many living things that is marked by the absence of wakefulness and by the loss of consciousness of one's surroundings

2 : a state resembling sleep: such as

   a : a state of torpid inactivity

   b : death, trance, coma

   c : a state marked by a lack of feeling followed by tingling such as (my foot's gone to sleep)

As we just read, there are several types of sleep. I know I have experienced two types, the physical sleep that we all do and mental sleep where your mind shuts down and doesn’t seem to work right. The Lord showed me another kind, one I hope to never experience a spiritual sleep.

Just as there are different types of sleep there are different levels of sleep. The lightest of these is a doze where you’re just drifting off but the slightest thing can wake you up. The middle one is where a hard nudge or a loud noise will wake you up. And last is a deep sleep where a gun could go off right next to you and you wouldn’t wake up.

In the spiritual sense the doze is where the preacher comes in and he gives us that nudge to wake us up. The middle one is where the revival comes in and its like God’s banging on the door and saying “WAKE UP, come spend some time with Me.” The third is the spiritual sleep, it’s the one where only you can decide when to wake up, for nothing anyone says or does will matter. You must decide.

In the Bible there are a few places where it tells about the size of the church that will go to be with God in heaven. When you read them, you realize that the number is different in each of them. This number represents us, not us as a group but us personally and the choices that we make.

In Matthew 25:1-13, we read about the ten virgins, how five were wise and five were foolish. We will look at this in a few different ways.

In the parable of the ten virgins when the bridegroom was delayed all of them went to sleep till a cry was heard that the bridegroom was coming. Now if we take it to mean that the virgins are the church, then all the churches went to sleep even the wise ones. Then God sent a messenger/prophet to wake them up, or as in our time He sends a revival to tell us to get our act together because He’s on His way.

Here is another perspective of the same parable.

The virgins have been notified that the bridegroom is coming on a certain day and that they should be ready. Then something happened and the bridegroom was delayed however, he did make it, right? So, what if it was a little later than they thought it should be when he got there. They could have stayed busy, instead they got tired and went to sleep. What if when he got there and no one was awake the bridegroom decided that if he could come all that way, do whatever he had to do to get there, even if that meant leaving every one behind, that they should have been ready no matter what time he got there. So, with no one awake to meet him, he went on his way.

Now let us change this up just a little bit.

The virgins have been notified that the bridegroom is coming on a certain day and that they should be ready. Now something happened and the bridegroom was delayed. However, as the virgins were waiting, they started to get tired and fall asleep all but one. Now this one was so excited that the bridegroom was coming that she did whatever she could to stay awake, standing, walking even exercising if that’s what it took to stay awake. Now when she heard the sounds of his coming, she was so excited and she had waited so long for him to come that she forgot to go wake the others, and ran out to meet him. Since she was there to meet him, he looked no further and married her. And the other virgins were left to their sleep.

Now I want to talk about the disciples a minute. These are men who grew up in a church, who knew what they were supposed to do and what they weren’t. Then came a man called Jesus, He grew up in the same church system and with the same rules they did. But Jesus looked at things differently when it came to the church. He saw more than just the do’s and don’ts and rules. He saw God’s overwhelming love and mercy. Jesus wanted to get to know them, to have a relationship with them, one where they could bring their worries and fears to Him. But Jesus didn’t want just a one-sided relationship with them. He wanted one where they sought Him out, did what they had to do to be with him.

Another example of “sleeping” is found in Matthew 26:36-45, where Jesus and the disciples go to Gethsemane.

Where Jesus asked the disciples to wait and watch but, they went to sleep. When Jesus returned, he woke them up and said to watch and He even gave them something to do to keep them awake when He said to pray so that they didn’t fall into temptation or fall asleep again. Now in this passage when Jesus returned the second time and found them asleep it didn’t say that He woke them up but that He went to pray again. The third time He basically told them sleep if you want, the time for waiting and watching is over.

I want you to put yourself in the disciple’s place. You’ve spent time with Jesus constantly day in and day out. Now you know that the church leaders wanted Jesus gone, out of their hair, one way or another. When you go to Gethsemane and Jesus asks you to wait and watch while you are there, you fall asleep. Jesus wakes you up and asks again for you to watch and He gives you something to do to help you stay awake. Then the next time Jesus wakes you up. He tells you that it’s too late now because He is being betrayed. How do you think they felt? How would you feel?

Here is another perspective or viewpoint.

You’re in the garden and Jesus asked you to wait and watch but you fall asleep. Now knowing how sneaky and conniving the enemy can be, what if they came quietly and took Jesus while you were sleeping and when you woke up Jesus had already been tried and convicted. I don’t know about you however, I would feel like a failure, useless and good for nothing. God doesn’t want us to feel that way, He wants to help us make the right choices so that we can be with Him.  

Some passages tell us why we should not sleep. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, Proverbs 6:9-11

There will be a time when God will leave us to our own choices.

Who’s to say that we haven’t already had our last reminder, and if we have then we need to do every thing we can to stay awake. To not lose focus on God and the things we need to do, no matter what they are. Because God wants us to be with Him, He doesn’t want us to be left behind. He’s given us every thing we need. The Bible for instructions. The Holy Spirit for a comforter in the hard times. Even showing us that its ok to ask for extra help when we need it. Whether you are new in your relationship with Him or whether you’ve known Him for years.

In Psalm 13:3-4 we find that King David asked God for help. The Bible shows us that even the disciple’s who knew Jesus personally still needed to ask Him for help as found in Acts 4:24-31.

In Psalms 29:11 and Isaiah 40:28-31, the Lord tells us that if we trust in Him, He will give us everything we need.

And last, but not least, I leave you with this.