Ps 127:2b: For God gives sleep to those he loves
This Psalm is one my favourites. Read the whole thing here. Let’s focus on verse 2b.
When I was in High School, I had a teacher who told us that a responsible person would sleep no more than 6 hours per day. He claimed that he sleeps for 4 hours per night and that he devotes the rest of the night time to praying and studying. He even said that if we slept more than 6 hours that we were wasting our lives and that we were lazy. He then quoted the follwing Bible passage (Prov 24:33) that says “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 warrior.”
I was deeply impacted by what this teacher said and I decided to reduce my sleep. I normally slept 8-10 hours during this time. (This is around the recommended time for teenagers). Sleep felt good. But out of fear that I was going to become poor because of too much sleep, I decided to reduce my sleep. I stayed awake staring about my school textbooks till midnight and I set alarms to wake up at 4am.
After three days of doing this, I felt miserable. I was too tired to eat well. I had trouble concentrating in school. I was angry and irritable all the time. I could not even understand whatever I read in the midnight. By the end of the week, I decided to stop. I resumed my normal 8-10 hours of sleep but I felt guilty about it. About a week later, I was studying my Bible and came across this verse in Ps 127:2 “God gives sleep to his beloved.”
I heard a voice that asked me “Do you think God loves you?” I answered yes. Then I looked at this passage again and realized that if I believe God loves me, then sleep is an experience of God’s love for me.
Since that day, I go to bed every night thanking God for his love to me through sleep. Sleep is part of my spirituality. You can make it part of yours too.
(There will no posts for the rest of June. The blog is taking a break. See you first week in July.)
Everything Shola 