Jeremiah said, ‘I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.’ Sometimes the most helpful thing we can do for our spiritual lives is get to bed earlier and wake up refreshed, so we’re ready for the tasks God wants us to do that day. When we constantly run on low battery power, it shows in our attitudes, our relationships, our performance, and our health. That’s why the Bible talks about the importance of sleep: 1) ‘It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones’ (Psalm 127:2 NLT). 2) ‘In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe’ (Psalm 4:8 NLT). Sleep is an act of trust: when we go to sleep, we acknowledge that the world’s in God’s hands, not ours. And it’ll get along very well, even if we’re not awake to control things. And when we wake up the next morning, God will give us exactly what we need for the day ahead, just like He gave the Israelites fresh manna each day when they were in the desert. It’s also hard to pray when we’re lacking sleep. Before Elijah was able to spend extended time in prayer, the angel of the Lord made him take not one, but two long naps. Contrast that with the disciples in Gethsemane who couldn’t pray because they kept falling asleep. It’s hard to think, feel, and act like Jesus when we lack sleep. That’s why the Bible says, ‘God gives rest to his loved ones’ (Psalm 127:2 NLT).
