Holy Slumber (A theology of Sleep)

I love to sleep. I am not kidding. It is one of my favorite things to do. I heard somewhere that adults need to have between 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. Frankly, that is not enough. I believe a good night's sleep includes 9 to 10 hours of sleep.

I wrote in my previous blog that I was traveling with my girlfriend, Jasmine Benton, on an eight day road trip. This road trip included going to: Skyline Chili, A Spurs/Cavs Basketball Game, my brother tom's house in Madison, The Tracy's in Fort Mill, SC, Jasmine's Father's house in Tampa, a pirates spring training game, bowling, the beach, Genghis Grill, Starbucks (a few times), and of course Chick-fil-a.

Wow. Did I mention we drove to all these places. Roughly 40 hours of driving. A good time for connecting with my girl and see most of the east coast for sure. But it was a long trip.

Jasmine's father, Kevin Benton, approved of me and he said something of me that affirmed the truth that I already knew, "boy you are a deep sleeper." His statement came from the fact that while I was in Florida, I slept through three trains coming through the town and a transformer blowing up in addition to Mr. Benton coming into and out of the youth room in which we were sleeping.

In many ways, I am similar to Jasmine's father. (Maybe Freud's theory that you marry someone similar to your opposite gender parent is true).  We both are in ministry, both love sports, both enjoy singing to the songs on the radio (making up new lyrics where we feel necessary). But in some areas we are not.

Kevin and Vanessa (Jasmine's father and step-mother) are borderline workaholics.  It was very difficult for me to write that previous statement for two reasons. 1) As humans we are never confined to a label because we are constantly changing and transforming. 2)  Kevin Benton is a church planter. So, in addition to working a 40 hour job he puts in a full time job working at the church. I have no idea how difficult that is.

But the reality is work can cause stress in a individual's life that can influence other dynamics. One area is sleep. If there is always one more thing to be done then that is more important sleep or getting that one thing done? To a person that values sleep it is sleep to a person obsessed with work it is that one more thing.

Getting enough sleep, eating healthy and exercising are the three biggies in lowering one's stress level.  I am not perfect in any of these areas but I see the need to continually improve my sleeping conditions, eating a little better and working out when I can.

As I was driving (well when it was Jasmine's turn to drive) back from Florida I opened the book of Psalms and decided to read the chapter for the day. I was on Psalm 4 and was shocked as the author talked about sleep! David wrote the majority of the Psalms, including this one. He is seen as a Biblical Hero for many but really he was just as imperfect as you and me. This is the same David who was a Shepherd, kills Goliath, becomes king of Israel and called a man after God's own heart. Did I forget to mentioned he also committed Adultery, got her pregnant, and killed the husband.

How does one go from being this guy on fire for God to going on a slippery slope of sin? Or maybe I should pose a question that is more personal: How you go from being on fire for God to being on a slippery slope of sin?

Well, maybe it would be helpful to know a little bit more about David in order to know what happened. He was king over Israel and his army was off at war. He decided, instead of fighting with his men, that he was going to sit at home. It was there that he was able to look out his window and see a beautiful young lady. And the rest was history.

David sinned against God because he was slumbering in his house instead of fighting in the battle.

Sleep is good but too much slumbering and laziness can cause your mind to wonder. Stress occurs in our lives when we do things that we believe our wrong. Think into your own life. When do you fall into the same old bad habits? When you are alone. Because there is no accountability of friends.

Many years later David writes Psalm 4 as a warning and a plead for balance between rest and work. He said, "Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your bed, search your hearts and be silent."

Do not sin when you are on your bed but rather search and silent your heart. I wonder where he learned that?

David concludes this Psalm by saying: "In peace, I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety."

 The problem with many people (including myself), in 21st century USA, is that we are go, go, go. And then we wonder why we are so tired at night. In a society that promotes working your butt off include you get burnt out I want to give you permission today to stop. To take a few breathes. God has important things for you to do but they can wait. Your job/calling/vocation whatever can wait. Spending time alone with God gives you and I the energy and motivation to be all we are.

God needs to be our primarily focus, followed by time with our family, followed by our jobs and other activities. If other areas in your life are lacking think but to the last time you were allowed with God. I am not talking about reading your bible or listening to worship music (though I am not against those activites). But just alone. You and him. Your heavenly daddy. I realize not all of my readings are Christians but even if you don't identify as a follower of Jesus He is still your daddy and He loves you.

May you mediate on these words as you go through out your day:

The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.


May you quiet yourself today and allow your Good Shepherd to bring you peace.