Next week I want to start looking at simple exercises we can do while at work, at home or around town to bring Christ into our daily routines. This week, however, I want to take a quick look at the other large chunk of our day: our time asleep. I'm told we spend 1/3 of our lives asleep (I'm sure I've gone way beyond that already!); can you imagine how wonderful it would be if we could dedicate all that time to God? So I want to look at two things: first, God's work in us during the night, and second, some ways to think about our time asleep.

Let's look quickly at some verses that deal with nighttime. One of the best places to start is in the Psalms: In Ps. 16.7, we are told that God counsels us from the inside during the night. Ps. 42.8 tells us that God's song, a prayer to God, will be with us in the night. Ps. 63.6 shows David remembering God on his bed, something he commands us to do ourselves in Ps. 4.4. In Ps. 77.6, Asaph says he will remember his song in the night. And Ps. 149.5 exhorts us to sing for joy in our beds!

This is probably enough for our purposes, but one of the best verses comes from one of the oldest books: Job, who in 35.10 says that God gives songs in the night. That this story dates from the time of Genesis suggests how ancient this idea must be.

The picture I'm getting here is that God is with us--actively with us--during our time in bed. As we prepare for sleep, we are to remember what God has done and to meditate on what God has told us. We are to be in praise and prayer as we turn in for the night. Meanwhile, God will instruct us while we sleep. He counsels us, giving us songs. The God who constantly watches over us (cf. the wonderful Ps. 139) has 1/3 of our day free to work in us unhindered. Can we actively open this time to him? Can we invite him to enter in to our hearts, to take his proper place as sovereign there, to rule over us with justice and mercy?

Richard Foster has pointed out that sometimes during prayer, God sends us into slumber. He talks people who immediately fall asleep as he prays over them. And this phenomenon has a long tradition among the saints: devoted men and women found asleep at the altar of our Refuge. Although many times we fall asleep in prayer because we are weak, sometimes we can fall asleep actually IN Christ's arms! Wouldn't that be wonderful if every night you fell asleep in the presence of the Savior? Can you imagine any place safer, warmer, or more restful than to be in Jesus' arms as you drift off?

So how do we cultivate this kind of sleep? I believe we can do some of the things I have said above: actively give your rest to God, invite him in, ask him to teach you his song and instruct you in his ways. Ask him to keep you safe from the evil one while you slumber. Ask him as well to cleanse you of all that offends him, and to fill you with more love for him and for others. Ask him to grant that you might be even closer to him when you wake than you are as you fall asleep.

But there is something else you can do, and that is to change your attitude towards the purpose of sleep. (And everything I say here can be applied to the practices of sabbaths and tithes!) All too often, we push ourselves to exhaustion, so that sleep becomes simply a physical reflex: we're simply too tired to stay awake. But even when we take our sleep more seriously, arranging set bedtimes and rituals, we still often treat it as merely a time for rest.

I'm not trying to speak against this attitude: I believe we should take care of ourselves and get healthy amounts of rest. But it seems to me that there is another element that we don't often consider: the time we spend asleep is time we can't be working! I once figured out how much more time for work my friends have who get less sleep than I do: if they get one hour less every night than I do, after one week they've had seven more hours to work than I have -- that's one entire workday more every week! After 52 weeks, they've had over 10 full work-weeks more to work than I've had! That's 2.5 work-months!

Do you see what I'm getting at? It would seem that if we are to get ahead in the world, we need to get as little sleep as possible. The more we work, the more we can get done, and the farther ahead we can pull. But as Christians, we are called to reject this attitude completely (see again "Soli Deo Gloria"). I spoke a couple of weeks ago about trusting that God alone is responsible for our prosperity in life: He is the provider, and our work is only a means by which he provides for us. It is not up to us to be successful -- that is what God promises he will for us do if we will trust him. Whatever we have not finished at night is safely in God's hands, and God will help us get it done.

From the world's point of view, then, sleep is an act of stupidity: it is wasting time that could be spent more valuably working for ourselves. And that means that it can be for us an act of faith: I trust that my prosperity in this life is not based on my own efforts, but on God's grace and faithfulness. Getting a good night's sleep is a way of showing the world that God is able to bless with all good things those who trust him. It is a way of witnessing to the world that God's ways are higher than their's.

So this week, make your bedtime an act of faith in God's desire to provide for you. Put your work away at an early hour, and trust that what is left undone will get done with God's help. [I have seen God create extra time in a full schedule for me to get things done!] Then, make your time asleep a conscious act of submission to God's working: remind yourself of what God has done and of what God asks of you; invite God to make his home in your heart and to teach you in the night, ask God to keep you safe from the powers of evil as you sleep. And when you wake, thank God for his presence, protection, and instruction through the night.

Speaking of bedtime, I need to get home and into the sack myself!

S.D.G.!