Sleeping made me just a little bit mad this week! For some, including my husband, they do not get mad when they sleep. They want more and more and even more sleep, all that they are able to get. I admit that sleep is a good thing, generally, and often I do not get enough of it. But this week, extra sleep was not what I wanted to do. I took some time from my busyness to do something fun. My husband was deep into watching a ball game and I thought to myself, I can watch a movie just for me—so I did! It was a movie that wasn’t new but one that I had heard about. I was a bit reserved on how I would like it and was prepared to turn it off as most movies don’t meet my expectations and standards. As I began to watch, it was fun and clean and interesting, so I kept watching. I watched probably for about 1 hour and 50 minutes. If you do the math, I had about 10 minutes left of my movie. The final minutes sometimes have the “punch line” in them. The rest of the movie has built up to those last few minutes. When I woke up, those last ten minutes were gone, and the nightly news had already started!!!!! A mad face emoji is what I wanted to express at that point. My movie was over with, it will not be back as a free over-the-air movie, I don’t want to spend money on trying to see the last 10 minutes of what I slept through.` And so, now I will not see how it all ended!
That was not what I intended to do, not what I did on purpose. I suppose I have to put the blame on myself. Sometimes post-surgery I reach the point of not being able to sit even one more minute. My back and knees can only be made happy if I lay down. After sitting through a good portion of the movie, I felt I just had to lay down, so I did! And since it was an evening movie, I should have expected to fall asleep even if I didn’t want to. I probably deserved to not see the end of the movie.
I started to think about other times when I have gone to sleep when I didn’t intend to, didn’t want to, and how I can’t get back what I missed when I fell asleep. The first day of vacation road trips often finds me sleeping (I’m not the driver!). That also makes me unhappy. Traveling is one of my favorite things and I don’t like sleeping through the travel. I will never know what it was that I didn’t see, that I am sure I would have wanted to see. Other times I take an unplanned car nap and when I wake up, I am so disoriented I can’t begin to figure out where I am even on a very familiar road to a well-known destination. I make myself watch for several minutes trying to decipher the landmarks along the road while still trying to figure out where in the world I am. Waking up disoriented gives me strange lost feelings. There are other times when I want to and need to sleep and it escapes me! No amount of shutting my eyes will help me get back to sleep. I have tried counting—I am really good at counting by threes! I have tried to lull my brain back to sleep by just straight counting as far as I can in hopes that I will get bored and go back to sleep! I eventually get distracted and forget to count. I’ve tried to sing in my mind! That doesn’t work to help me sleep! I sometimes can read myself to sleep with my tablet device. I like to use it as it quietly goes to sleep not long after I do! And using it is very quiet, I don’t need a lamp and it can live under my pillow. Sometimes not even it will help me get some sleep. Then I try to listen to audio Bible with the sound down so low that no one else can hear it if I put it right next to my ear. I can tell you that listening or reading the book of the Bible called Joshua is mostly too interesting to fall asleep with. Since our Sabbath School lessons have been studying the book of Joshua, that is what I chose to listen to recently. I did not sleep! Then my listening came to chapter 18! After listening to 18,19, on to 20, then 21……and chapter 23. I am absolutely positive that those chapters would put anyone to sleep unless you had an atlas and pencil and paper to make family tree diagrams with. I definitely got lost in listening to that part. And went to sleep! If you are curious—head to your Bible to find out why I went to sleep with that particular Bible reading in my ear. Sometimes during my wakefulness, I think about the next writing I will do and ask God for ideas. And it does seem like God inspires me with an idea. The drawback—I can get what I think is a very good idea but then I don’t want to get paper and pencil to make a note in the middle of the night. By morning, I can’t think what it was that I was thinking about in the middle of the night! At that point, I must give up and decide that God wasn’t part of that idea since I can’t remember it. And then I can only think about and wonder what I had been thinking about. Not very productive thoughts for sure. I can only pray to recall it.
Thinking about sleeping made me wonder how many stories in the Bible are about sleep, people who were sleeping.
Adam was the very first time the word sleep was mentioned as being asleep. God caused a “deep sleep” to fall upon Adam so that He could take one of his ribs and create Eve. It was an operation performed with no anesthesia. I am so glad that my surgeries were done while I was asleep—with anesthesia! Apparently, God has a special way of causing sleep that our doctors know nothing about.
A little bit of concordance time helped me remember many others who were sleeping in the Bible. And to learn lessons about sleeping on the job.
Throughout much of his life, Samson was indifferent toward his Nazirite vows and God’s commandments. He continually disregarded warnings from his parents and pursued his own desires, finally leading to his capture and blinding while being asleep. His indifference to his God-given role showed a profound lack of spiritual alertness.
King Saul and his guards: When David and Abishai entered King Saul’s camp at night, they found Saul and his men fast asleep, a literal example of a failure to be physically and spiritually alert. The text says a “deep sleep from the Lord” fell on them, allowing David and Abishai to enter their camp unnoticed and cut King Saul’s robe. It shows how a lack of vigilance can leave one vulnerable to an enemy.
King David: Later in his reign, David experienced a period of spiritual complacency. The Bible notes that “late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace” when he should have been leading his troops in battle. This idleness and lack of spiritual vigilance led directly to his great sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. Later David was described as having “fallen asleep and was laid with his fathers”.
Prophet Jonahon the ship: After fleeing from God’s command to go to Nineveh, Jonah boarded a ship going the opposite direction and went down into the inner parts of the boat, where he fell fast asleep during a violent storm. While the ship’s crew was afraid, Jonah was fast asleep as a storm raged. This prophet is a prime example of spiritual unconcern. He was so indifferent to God and fell into a deep sleep in the ship’s hold during a huge storm, while the pagan sailors were frantically trying to save the ship. The ship’s pagan captain had to wake him up and tell him to pray to his God.
There are also stories of sleeping and dreaming! Dreams from God!
Sometimes “Fallen asleep” is a figure of speech for death.
Lazarus: Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus had “fallen asleep,” which they misunderstood, but he later clarified that he meant Lazarus had died. Jesus told his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up” (John 11:11), referring to Lazarus’s death.
Our Bible Friends were as vulnerable to sleep as we are.
Jesus Christ: During a storm at sea, the disciples were afraid that their boat would be swamped by the high waves, but Jesus was asleep in the stern on a cushion until they woke him. Even Jesus needed physical sleep.
Sleeping 10 virgins: The Parable of the Ten Virgins is a story from Matthew 25:1-13 about ten virgins waiting for a bridegroom, where five are wise and have extra oil for their lamps, and five are foolish and do not. All ten fall asleep while waiting, but when the bridegroom arrived at midnight, the foolish virgins’ lamps were out because they lacked oil. They were denied entry to the wedding banquet because they were unprepared, while the wise virgins who were ready were welcomed in. The parable shows the importance of being spiritually prepared for Christ’s return, as the oil represents our spiritual readiness, which we cannot borrow from others.
The Disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration: Peter, James, and John also were exhausted and asleep when Jesus was transfigured into the heavens before them.
The Disciples in the garden at Gethsemane: Again, Jesus found Peter, James, and John asleep on three occasions while he was so vulnerable and praying before his betrayal, even after waking them up several times to pray with him. Jesus was in deep agony and praying before his crucifixion, and he asked his closest disciple friends to “watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation”. However, he came back to find them all asleep every time due to their sorrow and physical exhaustion, despite his clear instruction to “watch and pray.” Their spiritual weakness and exhaustion made them unable to support Jesus or prepare themselves for the trials that followed.
The Flesh is Weak, but the Spirit is Willing for most of us:
The disciples had good intentions in Gethsemane, but their human weakness and exhaustion caused them to fall asleep. This teaches our need for reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit to help our willing spirit overcome the limitations of our weak flesh.
Eutychus during Paul’s sermon: A young man named Eutychus is the famous young man in Troas who fell into a deep sleep while Paul was preaching a very long sermon late at night in an upper room. He was sitting in a window, fell out from the third story, and was picked up dead. Paul went down and miraculously brought him back to life.
Stephen: The first Christian martyr, who “fell asleep” loving Jesus after being stoned to death. Paul uses the phrase “fallen asleep in Christ” to describe many believers who have died, emphasizing that death for Christians is a temporary state before resurrection. I am so looking forward to meeting my parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and so many others. The term “fallen asleep” is used throughout the New Testament as a substitute for the death of believers, a temporary state of rest before the resurrection.
Finally, the Church of Laodicea in Revelation—Jesus directly addresses the church in Laodicea, scolding them for being “lukewarm”, neither hot nor cold. This describes a state of spiritual complacency and self-sufficiency, highly offensive to God and a form of spiritual slumber.
My search led me to these ideas for me to study more:
So many important lessons can be learned about spiritual alertness, which involves our vigilance, prayerfulness, and an awareness of God’s will and work. Jesus instructed his disciples in Gethsemane to “watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Their failure to pray made them weak when the pressure hit, it led to their fear and later denial. Prayer is not just for emergencies, but a very important way to gain strength and prepare for coming spiritual battles and to defend against temptations ahead of us. It is good to stay awake and alert!
In the parable of the wheat and tares, “while men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares” (Matthew 13:25). Spiritual slumber provides an opportunity for the devil to plant seeds of destruction, false doctrine seeds, or seeds that are harmful distractions in one’s life, home, or community.
Jonah was physically and spiritually asleep in the middle of a violent storm because of his willful disobedience to God’s command. In contrast, Jesus could sleep peacefully during a storm because he was in perfect obedience and trust in his Father’s plan. This illustrates that true spiritual peace comes from living within God’s will, not by ignoring reality.
Eutychus’s physical sleep led to a life-threatening fall, a lesson in how spiritual dullness can lead to a dangerous drift away from the worshipping community and God’s truth. We must actively engage with scripture, fellowship, and service to keep our discernment sharp and minds alert.
The biblical emphasis on staying awake and sober is often linked to the unexpected time of the Lord’s return (1 Thessalonians 5:6; Matthew 25:13). Spiritual alertness means I need to be living every day in a state of readiness and preparedness for eternity.
Spiritual laziness or inattentiveness (spiritual slumber) is a real and dangerous hazard in our faith journey. It can lead believers to miss out on God’s work and overlook Christ’s presence in their lives, just as I missed the ending of my movie and am lost on trips. The Bible repeatedly warns, “Keep awake!” and “Be sober”, have constant vigilance, I need to see and know the signs of where I am going. Spiritual slumber is used to describe a state of lethargy, inattentiveness, or unresponsiveness toward God’s truth and will. It is a condition of spiritual complacency or apathy where an individual becomes negligent in their faith and relationship with God.
Just as physical sleep dulls the senses to the realities of the surrounding world, spiritual slumber makes a person unable to perceive or respond to spiritual dangers, God’s voice, or to the signs of the times. It is where believers become comfortable or satisfied with their current spiritual condition, leading to a lack of motivation for growth, prayer, Bible study, fellowship, or service. We become complacent and inactive—asleep!.
A person in spiritual slumber is not “watching” or “sober-minded,” making them, and me, easy targets for the devil’s temptations and attacks, much like a lion preying on the vulnerable, and then we become very vulnerable to sin and temptation. This is marked by a cooling of love for God and others, drying up of our prayer life, and a lack of passion for everything spiritual, often leading to unconfessed sin and a hardened heart. We neglect to maintain our relationship with God. Please God, keep me from that!!
The concept is often linked to the warning to remain watchful, awake, and prepared for the unexpected return of Christ, as in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, where all ten slept, but only five were prepared with oil (spiritual readiness). The five were not ready for Christ’s return—the bridegroom. The Bible constantly urges believers to “wake up” from this condition, to be alert and sober, and to be active engaging in their faith to maintain a vibrant and active spiritual life. I do not want to wake up too late for the ending. I don’t want to wake up disoriented and wondering where I am. Will I be on the road to heaven? Will I be able to see signs that tell me I am on the right road?
Please God, help me to stay awake, watchful for the signs that show me you are coming soon. I don’t want to be sleeping and miss the End!