What Does The Bible Say About Sleep?

What does the Bible say about Sleep_ Let's talk about the sleep crisis Matt: [00:00:00] Well, good afternoon and welcome to Crowd Church. Great. That you could join us. Good afternoon. It's good evening now, isn't it? The clocks have gone back today and so it just feels like evening beg. I dunno. Do you think that, do you think it feels like evening? Sharon: Yeah, it definitely feels like evening. Hi everyone. Matt: Absolutely it does. Uh, for those of you who don't, uh, know us, uh, to my left, uh, which I think might be your right, I dunno. Anyway, the beautiful lady on the side is, is, is my amazing wife. So this is Sharon. I'm Matt. Welcome to Crowd Church. Uh, we are an online church for those that might not see the point of church, uh, maybe this is your first time to church. Maybe you're kind of new to the whole church or maybe, uh, like the beautiful lady, uh, uh, my good self. We, we, you've been around church for a little while, just a little. How long have you been a Christian babe? How, how long? Hmm. [00:01:00] Sharon: I think I properly became a Christian when I was about 15. I'm not gonna do the maths. Matt: Yeah. Yeah. It was a few years ago. 15 years ago. It was 15 years ago and Sharon: a Matt: bit. Absolutely. Uh, if you are new withers, feel free to join in the comments. You can say hi in the comments if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook or YouTube. The comments, uh, are a bit intermittent today, but they do seem to be working. But do feel the freedom to join in today. Uh, in fact, let me do this, babe. What is happening today? Why don't you tell everybody? Sharon: Oh, okay. Well, today we have got a talk by this amazingly gorgeous, handsome, witty, intelligent guy, uh, who's gonna be talking about sleep, which I've been in church for quite a while now. Since I was born and I have never heard a talk about sleep, so this is a first for me. Uh, then we're gonna have, um, a worship song [00:02:00] and I'm looking at my notes here. Um, after that I should know I watch this every week, but I still can't remember. Anyway, um, after that we're gonna actually be talking about the talk. So, uh, answering any questions that you put in the feed and any questions that I've got 'cause I've not heard the talk yet. Um, yeah, I think that's it. Matt: Yeah, that's good. That's good. I just want everyone to know that, uh, this is a very exciting day for me because this is the first time you and I have actually together hosted a Crowd livestream service. Right. Sharon: Yeah, it is. You've been, uh, trying to get me on for quite a while. Uh, today I took pity on you. He's gonna be on his own, so I thought I'd tell, fell. Matt: I'll tell you whatever I can get. If pity works, we'll take it. Right? We'll take it. Yeah. No, I was due to host today with Dave Cony. Uh, Dave Cony was gonna come do this with me, which would've been an absolute right and great, but Dave unfortunately couldn't make it. Um, and so Sharon stepped into the breach last [00:03:00] minute, which is great for everybody 'cause it is me doing the talk. And I was just a little bit concerned it would be me, me and more me, which is, you know, yeah. It's, it's, you know, me in a certain dose, in a certain measure is fine. More me. It's probably not what you want on a Sunday evening, is it? Really? But let's, you know, you've stepped in, which is amazing. So good to have you babe. I'm super excited. Uh, so. So, yeah. So we are in the middle of a series called What By Say in the middle of the series. We've just started. What does the Bible say about? And so we just pick topics that we know that people are asking about, that people are searching for online, uh, that you guys have emailed in about and asked what does the Bible say about We take, we've taken all of those questions and we do this massive series. It was gonna be about eight to 10 weeks of teaching. We've just expanded it because we've got so many questions coming in. Uh, so we, we are gonna do, we were gonna do this into the new year. [00:04:00] Who knows when it's gonna end, but it's good fun. I really enjoy it because it's useful to understand on some of these key topics. What does the Bible actually say about it? If indeed it does say anything. And as Sharon Riley said, we are gonna do today, what does the Bible say about sleep? So without further ado, we are gonna play the talk. Uh, feel free while the talk's on, join in with the comments, ask any questions that you've got. Then Sharon will be back, uh, in just a little while after this. Here we go. Uh, let me press the right button. Here we go.[00:05:00] What does the Bible say about sleep? This for me is an intriguing question. Why sleep? Why are we asking? What does the Bible say about sleep? Why, why, why this topic? Well, lemme tell you. Every week I get emails and messages from good folks, literally all over the world, asking me all kinds of questions about the Christian faith. And one of the things that we can do is we can track trends in those questions related to what is happening in society at the moment. Okay. [00:06:00] And one of the particular trends that, that I noticed was one that I wasn't expecting. The most popular topic that I was asked about by far at the start of lockdown was sleep. People were having trouble sleeping, and it wasn't just Christians asking about sleep, it was those who are not Christians. Those who were unchurched were also asking about it. Everybody was asking. Have you got any help? How do, how do I sleep? What does the Bible say about sleep? What are some of the Bible verses about sleep? How can I find rest? Can I just lie down and sleep or am I doomed to not being able to sleep anymore? Some of the questions that I was asked, right, and it's not just the folks that emailed me around. One in 10 of us are kind of are taking some kind of sleeping aid at the moment and they're the people that we know about. A lot of people are taking sleep medication and not actually telling their doctor, and the fear is that under the pandemic, this has risen massively [00:07:00] and cause many people to become addicted to taking sleep medication. It seems that we've got a bit of a sleep crisis at the moment, so I wanna work through some of those questions because if we've got a crisis, I wanna know what the Bible says about it. What does God say about sleep? Now, if we look at the place where sleep is first mentioned in the Bible, we come across a story right at the beginning of creation. God has just created the heavens and the earth, and it was good. The Bible tells us, and then he created man, and it went downhill from there. According to Bailey, from Grey's Anatomy, God then decides quite rightly that it's not good for a man to be alone. So eve enters the picture and here's what the Bible says. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and whilst he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up. Its [00:08:00] placed, uh, with flesh. You see, the way God creates Eve is different from how he creates Adam to create Eve. It seems God needed Adam to be asleep. This tells me that in Eden before the fall, before sin, before death, there was sleep. In God's original creation, there was sleep, and that Adam experienced this transforming power of God whilst he slept. Adam experienced God's creation and provision in life altering ways, if you know what I mean, as he slept. Now, I used to read this passage about God causing Adam to fall asleep and think, you know what? I just wonder if God's kind of given Adam an anesthetic here. He was gonna extract part of Adam after all. And if you fast forward to present day shows like Grey's Anatomy and you visit a modern day hospital, you can see why I thought this right? God was [00:09:00] saving Adam from some pain, but this happened before sin before the fall. God could have spared Adam the pain quite easily of that. I have no doubt. So I'm not sure that that's actually the reason for God to cause Adam to fall into a deep sleep. I think there might be something more to this. Now, I appreciate you can't form a theology on one verse, but if we expand our thinking beyond the need for an anesthetic and ask ourselves, what else could God be doing here? It could open up some interesting ideas, especially when we read it in the context of the rest of scripture. See, I think God is kind of emphasizing the importance of sleep. Are there times that we need to sleep? If we want God to do a work in our lives? Is he leading us to the idea that sleep is actually God's idea and that he made us for sleep? Is God the source of sleep? That becomes [00:10:00] my next question. So when we read in Genesis again, we see that God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam. God caused it. And it's not just with Adam either. We read that God did the same to people all over the Bible. He causes people to fall in a deep sleep, and when he does, it's usually to do some kind of transformative work. He kind of interjects in the course of human history. Psalm 20, uh, Psalm 1 27, verse two tells us that he, God gives his beloved sleep. That's you. That's me. We're his beloved. He gives us sleep. And in Matthew 11, Jesus makes this remarkable promise. He said, are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with [00:11:00] me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. It is one of the most astounding verses in the Bible, right? And Jesus here is saying that you'll learn about real rest. And one thing is, sure, as we read through the Bible, right, that God is a great source of sleep. He's the source of this real rest. Jesus is the source of it. So what do I do if I'm not sleeping? If God is the source of sleep, but I'm struggling to sleep, does that mean if I'm a Christian, that God is mad at me? Well, I, I don't think he, I don't think he does at all. I mean, lemme just be totally clear. [00:12:00] I have some terrific friends who are deeply faithful Christians who actually find sleep quite hard. That doesn't make them a bad person, and it doesn't make me a better person if I sleep better than they do. In fact, it's probably the opposite because they're gonna use their time to pray for others whilst I'm asleep. So David, who is known for slaying Goliath, he was the chap that wrote that it's God who Gli, who G lives, who gives his bill of sleep. But David also wrote this. He said, I am worn out from sobbing all night. I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. Wow, that sounds pretty horrendous, doesn't it? David is not sleeping because of grief and anguish, and maybe for us it's grief or anguish or maybe it's anxiety or fear or maybe. Maybe we're working too hard. Maybe it's a lack of [00:13:00] exercise or a long-term illness. I don't know. There are many reasons that we don't sleep, but the most popular by far is anxiety of some kind. That's what caused the epidemic. Uh, the sleep epidemic during the pandemic was anxiety. So what causes the anxiety in us to make sleep so complex? What keeps us up at night worrying? You know what? Since being a parent, I've found it harder to sleep if my kids are still out than if they're in, I sleep easier if I know where they all are, right? That's just a common parental worry. If I'm traveling the next day, and especially if I have to get up early, I struggle to sleep well the night before. The very night I need to fall asleep at a reasonable time is the very night I struggle to sleep. I run my own company. So there have been many nights, let me tell you where I have struggled to sleep because of something that was, oh, maybe wasn't happening [00:14:00] in the business. Things Warriors and Sharon touched on this a few weeks ago when she asked, what does the Bible say about anxiety? And it's well worth a watch if you've not seen it already, because it is connected things warriors, and that affects our sleep. So many of us, like I say, found this true under the COVID pandemic. We've all have worries and anxieties and they affect our sleep. And the irony is, the worse we sleep, the more anxious we become. And it's an easy spiral, right? Just spirals out. So can anything be done about this? Does the Bible give us any help? Now I know from scripture that just as God is the source of healing, he's also the source of sleep. And despite the pain and agony of not sleeping, he's still the source. And David, when he wrote about drenching, his bed with tears, knew the [00:15:00] secret was within God. And that there with him, there is hope. Okay? And so a few verses later in that same chapter, he writes this, the Lord has heard my plea, the Lord will answer my Prayer. So David goes from drenching his pillow in tears to having hope that God was answering his Prayer. So if you are not sleeping as bad is as bad as it is, remember there is always hope. I remember a few years ago, uh, before speaking at a church meeting, uh, I woke up in the middle of the night, which is unusual for me. In the middle of the night. It was 5:00 AM 'cause I saw the clock. Um, and I woke up because of a dream that I had had. Now, it's rare for me to have such dreams. I'm not gonna lie. So this was unusual and I, it was so vivid and clear, right? And in my dream, I saw a lady leaning on the edge of a bathtub, cradling the side of the bathtub, [00:16:00] pouring out her heart to God, and tears were streaming down her face. But in my dream, I saw those tears turn to gold. It was a very, very vivid dream. And so the next day I'm speaking at the church and I happen to mention this dream, uh, and what had happened, and a lady came up to me after the service and introduced herself. To me and told me that it was her that was in the dream. She was awake at five o'clock in the morning. She was in the bath, leaning over the side, pouring out her heart, crying to God, crying out to God. And I got to tell her that God saw her and that her tears were as gold and that she could have hope. Now, both of us were encouraged that day. Let me tell you, I have never forgotten it. And this dream reminds me of David. Both of them, David and this lady. They both found hope in their pain and in their [00:17:00] nighttime tears. Peter, one of Jesus's disciples also has a really interesting story when it comes to sleep in difficult times. It was during the time after Jesus had ascended to heaven. That this blood thirsty maniacal leader of the day called Herod, decides he wants to kill Christian leaders and increase the persecution against the church. So he has Peter arrested. Okay. He wasn't, Herod wasn't arresting Peter to have a one-to-one with him, you know, so he could talk about donating funds to the church roof project. Oh, no. Instead, Herod has Peter thrown into prison and the plan is to bring him before the crowds, before the people on Passover. And so the Bible tells us that when he, Herod had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him intending after the [00:18:00] Passover to bring him out to the people. Okay, so here is Peter arrested, thrown into prison. He has four squads of guards, uh, four squads of soldiers to guard him. That's a, that's a fair few people, right? Uh, and the next day, like I said, he's gonna be brought out to the crowds, which is the same Crowd that kind of has a habit of crucifying people that they don't like at that particular point in time. This is a situation that would cause anxiety in me, that's for sure, right? Peter is in a genuine life-threatening situation. Things are very, very bad. So what happens here? The night before Peter was, uh, to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. Did you see that? Did you, I mean, Peter was asleep. He slept between [00:19:00] these chained guards, right? He was chained two guards and slept between them facing a death sentence the next day. Somehow in the midst of all this craziness, he went to sleep. I find that both extraordinary a bit odd and amazing all at the same time, right? I find it amazing because it means that in the midst of the most harrowing experience, there is a piece that comes and we can find what I like to call sacred sleep. That sleep that comes from God. Sometimes the most faith-filled act we can do is sleep. Sometimes the best type of spiritual warfare is to just fall asleep. And Peter, at this particular point wasn't having a light nap. He wasn't dozing. I mean, he was properly asleep. How do we [00:20:00] know this? Well, let's read the rest of the passage. Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, quick get up, and the chains fell off his wrists. We know that Peter was in a deep sleep because despite the bright light in the room, despite the presence of an angel himself, Peter was still asleep. The angel had to kick him in the side to wake him up. That just makes me smile, right? See, we can experience this sacred sleep even in the midst of horror. We can know that peace and tranquility that only God can provide As we sleep and we learn from Peter that sacred sleep is peaceful, sleep, it's full of peace. We can learn from the Bible that sleep is from God, that we can sleep in his [00:21:00] supernatural peace, that we can experience his healing and transformation. When we do sleep, it tells us that sleep comes from God, that sleep is sacred and amazing and wonderful. But there's one other thing about sleep that I think we should quickly touch on, uh, in this rather quick look at the topic, and that is this, that when we sleep, we. And God given dreams can change the course of human history. So does God give us dreams whilst we sleep? Let's look at that in the rest of this study. And to do it, I wanna look at a dreamer from the Bible. Joseph. Joseph, who is Jesus' dad. And I wanna quickly recap the story, right? Joseph and Mary Betrothed, uh, as was the customer of the day, [00:22:00] they were kind of partway through their marriage ceremony and this ceremony could take years to complete, right? And they're partway through it. But then there is what can only be described as a curve ball. An angel appears to Mary, gives her the most extraordinary, uh, opportunity, and she conceives by the Holy Spirit. And within a day or two of that happening, Mary runs off to spend time with Elizabeth, who is her cousin. And the Bible then tells us that she stays there for three months. She then returns to Nazareth to tell Joseph that she's in fact, three months pregnant. That would not have gone down well with Joseph. Right? No man ever wants to hear that his wife is three months pregnant, especially when you know it's not you that's been involved in that whole, whole process, if you get what I mean. Right. And stop it [00:23:00] all off, Mary is blaming it on God. What would you think? Right? Your wife has been away for three months in the mountains, returns pregnant and blames it on God takes absolutely no type of personal responsibility whatsoever. I don't think you'd be thinking pleasant thoughts, would you? I, I wouldn't, right? You would think she's had an affair. That she has committed adultery and this is a pretty big train wreck, I think for Joseph's life plans. So what does the Bible say then? Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take you. Uh, take, uh, Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy [00:24:00] Spirit, and she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Then Joseph being aroused from sleep did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took, uh, to him his wife. There's so much we could say about this passage. Joseph is such a cool dude, let me tell you. But did you see what was happening? Joseph was asleep, and during that sleep, he encounters God in a dream in such a way that it radically alters his life. He completely changes his mind on what to do with Mary. And as a result of that, not only is Joseph's life changed, but let's be frank, the whole of human history will now no longer be the same. God had radical plans and the best way to get this across to Joseph was as he [00:25:00] slept. Now, you know, as we read on with the story of Jesus, we find out that he discovers that journeying with Christ takes courage and it takes faith. It takes a commitment to put love first. It challenges deeply held assumptions that we hold to be true. It challenges our notion of justice and right and wrong. It challenges to, uh, first think about our own sin before we think about the sins of others, but we also find that the Christmas story starts with sleep, and that I think is pretty amazing. So to summarize, God is the source of sleep. God transforms our life as we sleep and God can communicate with us as we sleep. I've started to call this whole thing sacred sleep. You know, where God's involved. And you know, because of all the emails I get asking about sleep, I depen, [00:26:00] I decided actually to spend a lot of time last year studying the Bible and looking at this topic of sleep. And it has been one of the most eye-opening studies that I have done. Let me tell you, and like everyone else doing a talk in this series, you'll have noticed this as a theme. I can tell you that we have only just scratched the surface of this topic. There is so much in the Bible about sleep that you could literally write a book on it. So that's actually what I'm doing. I'm converting my study into a book and I'm putting those chapters, uh, of that book online for free for you to follow along with, if you want to know more, lemme tell you, it's gonna take me a while to finish it. Uh, we're partway through it. Uh, but if you do want to know more, if you do wanna follow along, just head on over to the website, sacred sleep book.com and have a look. You can subscribe and we'll send you notes whenever we put new chapters and all that sort of stuff on there. But do have a look because this whole topic of [00:27:00] sleep is phenomenal. Sharon: Hmm. Thanks for that, Matt. I love it that sleep and rest are from God, that they're his idea. In a few minutes, we're gonna actually discuss that. Um, so do put your questions in the chat, uh, or your comments and we can include those in the discussion. But for now, we're gonna play a song, and it's a song by friends of ours called Greg and Martha. And the song is called Only in You, Jesus. Do I have it all? Now, we like to play a song every week. Um, and if you want to, you can join in with the words and sing along too. If you're not up for that, why not listen to the words and just soak them in. Um, and also use this time just to write your comments in, like we said before. Uh, see you in a few minutes. Video: God of goodness.[00:28:00] [00:29:00] Only.[00:30:00] How great you're, how great. You're how great and beyond. How great. How great, how great, how great,[00:31:00] how great, how great. How great.[00:32:00] Only in only in. Matt: Well, that song just keep, I dunno what was going on with that video at the end. It just, just kept rolling and rolling and rolling. Love the song though. Love, love, love that song. Greg. [00:33:00] Uh, Schofield, Martha Schofield. Legendary. Um, I like to play that song loud in the car just because I can, uh, well in the van these days. So I drive a van, a car, but it's, uh, it sounds very, very, very good when you play it loudly. Can I recommend that is what you do. I'll try. So, um, go on. Sharon: I'll try that next time then. Matt: Yeah, yeah. Do it. Just whack it up loud. Just turn up the kits, all of it, babe. Uh, so this is the part of the live stream called Conversation Street, which is where we go through, we're just gonna talk about the talk really, uh, and see what comes out of it. So if you've got any questions, any thoughts, any comments? Throw them in the, either the Facebook comments or YouTube, wherever you're watching it. 'cause I know people watch it in both places. If you are not watching this live, uh, and you still have questions that you would like answering, you can reach out to us via the website. You can still put technically stuff in the comments, uh, and we do check back, uh, and come across 'em. But I know every now and again, uh, we, we kind of, [00:34:00] we do miss some. So, uh, if you are not watching this live and you've got questions, please do get in touch with either via the WhatsApp number, um, which I think I can put on the screen. There we go. Or via the website. Check that out. It's like, we've got the technology. Amazing. Okay, so let's get into this Now, one of the questions that was put on the comments was, um, we may as well get straight into it. Do you struggle to sleep? Uh, and Matt said yes. He struggles to sleep because of stress, anxiety, and overthinking. Right. So, um, and this whole anxiety thing seems to be quite a popular thing. Overthinking seems to be quite a popular thing. Uh, I know the answer, but babe, do you ever struggle to sleep? Sharon: I certainly do. I seem to go through phases. So I'll have a phase where I sleep really well, which I mean at the moment, which is fabulous. And then I have other phases where I don't for different reasons. Um, I wrote down a few of them 'cause I was like, [00:35:00] oh, I wonder why. You know, over the years definitely when the kids were small or babies. Definitely not good for sleep. Um, anxiety definitely. And the overthinking, or not, not even just being anxious, but if I've been out somewhere, um, and seen people late at night and had lots of conversations and that's kind of stimulated my brain and then it's hard to get the brain to shut down again. I guess that's the overthinking, isn't it? Um, more recently, I think, um, I, about 18 months ago I developed Rhinoc sinusitis, which I call my rhinoceros 'cause it's easier. Um, and when that's when that's playing up, I find it quite hard to breathe. Yeah. To my lungs as well as my nose. Um, so I have spent many a night down on the Seti. The Seti has become my new friend. Um, yeah. Um, so that also, if I'm too hungry, I don't sleep. Do you want me to carry on? I've got a list. Matt: This we can, that's just, we'll just call this therapy. Why not? Uh, it made me [00:36:00] smile actually when you said, uh, when we had small kids, obviously we didn't sleep as well then, which reminds me, uh, to let you know, uh, for those of you who don't know, who do know, Antoine and Priscilla, they do come across the livestream. Um, they have given birth to a beautiful baby girl called Adele, um, who Sharon and I have both met. She is wonderful and beautiful, and mother and father are doing well, although they are lacking a little bit of sleep. Antoine lets me know, uh, I sent him a text to see how he is doing and it's like, yeah, it's good, but it's exhausting. Right. So, uh, there, so I mean, there are reasons why we don't sleep. Some of them are natural, like having small kids, it's gonna be an obvious thing. There are seasons that you kind of go through. Um, but there are, there are all these other reasons beyond small kids, which you touched on, like anxiety, um, and illness is, is a, a, a big one. You know, why people struggle to sleep. Yeah, definitely. Um, when you struggle to sleep, right, um, [00:37:00] what are the consequences of that? Sharon: Um. It kind of affects everything, doesn't it? You just, you feel rubbish. It affects your thinking. Uh, I definitely can get very obsessed with sleep. That's probably the only time I think about sleep is when I'm not getting any, I can suddenly become really obsessed with it. I Video: like that. Yeah. Sharon: How many hours did I get? Did I make it past four? I think four hours in a row is definitely a. A, a good thing any less than that. Not good. Matt: That's really interesting. I like that. I only really ever think about sleep when I'm not getting any of it. Which is, is is quite, it's quite an insightful statement I think because, I mean, we were talking about this before we were on air, um, and you mentioned it actually, didn't you? That um, and by the way, what you can hear in the background is the doorbell. 'cause you know, it's trick and treat night, so it keeps going. Uh, and Sharon: we've had a lot of visitors tonight. Matt: Yeah. Yes. The trick and treaters post [00:38:00] pandemic. So the door is getting answered and we are. Giving out, you know, inappropriate amounts of sugar to, uh, little people as they come and knock on the door. Um, but the, the thing that you mentioned earlier, uh, about not really ever having heard a talk about sleep, not really having, not really having thought about sleep from a Christian point of view before. Is that right? Sharon: Yeah, definitely. And I think that's probably because it's just something that we do without thinking until we're not doing it, and then it, it becomes a thing. But even then when I've struggled, I've, I've still not gone. Oh, what does the bible say about this? But I, it is kind of, I liken it a little bit to breathing in that when my rhinoceros has been playing up and I've not been able to breathe because my chest has been tight and my nose has been really bummed up, I'm aware of every breath. Mm-hmm. But then when it's, when I'm well again and I've kind of got over that little bump, it's like I [00:39:00] don't think about it. I just do it. Um, although I do, every now and then, I try to remember and just be thankful for breathing. But to be, be, to be able to breathe easily is just like so amazing. Mm-hmm. Um, but because it is so natural, we don't normally think about it. I think. Matt: Yeah. I think that's a really good point. I think you raised a very good point. And to be fair for me, I'd not thought I was, I was like you, I'd never really thought about it. I knew I'd come across a few verses in the Bible that I could quite happily. Hmm. Patter off to people who weren't sleeping. Um, but it wasn't until the sheer mag, I mean, I, I cannot begin to tell you how many emails we actually got asking about this topic. It, it totally threw me and totally surprised me. Um, at the start of the pandemic, I was not expecting it. I really wasn't, uh, expecting it. Um, and it wasn't until, I don't know, maybe the 80th email, it was some crazy number on the emails where I thought, you know what? This is getting serious enough for people where I actually need to have a theology here. I [00:40:00] need to understand what the Bible says rather than just guess. Uh, and it, and I, and I had not thought about it either, uh, until that point. And it wasn't until I started going through scripture, I thought, man, alive. This is a really interesting topic where the Bible's concerned and so go ahead. It's Sharon: interesting how you say it that quite often it can be because we're anxious, but then that's a, it's a downward spiral because we don't, um, we don't sleep because we're anxious, but then when we don't sleep, our mental health goes further downhill because of the lack of sleep. And it is can be this vicious cycle. Matt: Yeah, it can, it's, um, Phil Watson touched on this whereby, um, when we were, when he was hosting a few weeks ago, and he was, we were talking about word men, world Mental Health day and how, um. How sleep, uh, and anxiety were linked. And when you stop sleeping as well, you become more anxious. Yeah. And because you're not sleeping as well, you become anxious about not sleeping as well, which drives you to not sleep as much. And, and like you say, it becomes this crazy downward spiral. [00:41:00] How do you, um, how do you get out of that? Do you think You've got 30 seconds to answer that question. Sharon: Oh, it is really gonna depend on what the cause is, doesn't it? Um, oh, you're 30 seconds. Well, I'm like, say, Matt: oh, it's brilliant. All you gotta do is to say, refer to the talk I did several weeks ago. Yeah. On what the Bible says about anxiety. Sharon: Yeah. To do with anxiety. Definitely refer to that talk. Matt: Oh, that's brilliant. Welcome to the deep end, babe. Uh, I'm gonna pay for that one later. I just want everyone to know anyway. Um, so when you, here's a question for you then when you don't sleep right. And we all go through seasons, I think, where we sleep well, certainly you and I, we go through seasons where we sleep well and seasons where we don't sleep well. Yeah. Um, what, what do you do when you are not sleeping well to try and break that cycle to try and get out of it?[00:42:00] Sharon: Um, well, something that's just come to mind about what you talked about, the anxiety of not being able to sleep. And I've definitely experienced that recently, um, over the last 18 months. And, um, you probably remember there's been a few times and I've gone to bed and I've just gone, I'm just really anxious about sleep now and I've got you to pray for me. And actually that really helped. Mm-hmm. Um, each time you prayed for me, that ad did make a really big difference. Um, but on other times when I've actually like been awake still at four o'clock in the morning, um, if I'm. Taking like too long to get to sleep, I'll just get out of bed and go somewhere else because I just find, then I start associating bed with not sleeping, and that's not helpful. Mm. So I get up and go somewhere else and have a drink and a snack. And I'd love to say that I spend hours in Prayer, but I'm generally in the middle of the night, I'm just too tired and I start and then go, oh, I can't think of any, I can't think of what, I'd love to be one of these, [00:43:00] you know, amazingly, wonderfully spiritual people who, when they're up in the night, can spend hours in Prayer. But for some reason, I just don't seem to be able to get my brain around that. It is a, Matt: it is a bit of a romantic notion, isn't it, that a lot of people have. It's like, well, if I don't sleep, I'm just gonna use that time for the Lord. I'm gonna read my Bible and pray. And I'm like, there's, I can't, I'm, I'm, I'm like you. I, no, I just can't do it. I Sharon: can't read that either, because it's like, I am really tired. Ooh, Matt: that, that was Siri joining in. Yeah. Yeah. Just he didn't understand either, so, uh, so we're on the right track I think. I don't know. Um, so yeah, Sharon: so I love reading, but I can't read of him in the night 'cause my eyes are just too blurred. So I, quite often, I'll listen to a podcast or put, I do put some worship music on sometimes and that just can help a little bit or, um, can help Matt: focus, focus you in the right way. I think one of the, for me, one of the death blows is if you're in the night, is turning the TV on. Um, [00:44:00] because you've got that blue light, uh, you then your brain gets sucked into that. I have been known actually, if I'm awake at two o'clock in the morning and just not getting sleep. 'cause I'll just get up and I'll work for a few hours. Um, and I'll churn through lots of emails. Uh, I get lots of emails back the next day going, why are you emailing me at three o'clock in the morning? But I find it's a great time to actually get a lot done. Uh, it's, um, it's, it's quite fascinating. Uh, Matt's put here that he's, what is, he says, I put stress, anxiety, music on low. I assume that's music to calm the anxiety, not, not music that actually creates the stress and anxiety. Um, so he puts that on load. So again, music is, is one of those things, isn't it, I think can help Sharon: because it's a bit of a distraction, but it doesn't take too much effort to, you don't have to engage your brain too much. Matt: Yeah. Sharon: Which is what I find. I find it difficult to embrace, engage my brain when I'm up in the night. Matt: Yeah, calm music is put here. Yeah, no, that's very good. Very good. So this romantic notion of, [00:45:00] uh, have you ever heard people say, um, that I was asleep and God woke me up and told me to pray for.dot dot? Sharon: Yes. Matt: Have you ever heard those kind of stories like I have, Sharon: yes. Uh, Matt: God told me to pray for such and such person on the other side of the world and some, somehow they were miraculously saved or some, Do you know what I mean? Some miracle happened and you hear those stories and go, that sounds amazing. But then you kind of go, but please don't wake me up in the night. I dunno if that's just you or if that's just me. Sharon: Well, actually years ago I remember Nick Carding, who's one of the pastor founding pastors of the church that we're part of, I think he must have given one of those stories about, I think asking God to wake him up if there was something to pray about. And I was really inspired by this. So I said to God, okay, if you want me to pray about anything, wake me up in the night. And, um, and it. Actually happened. I heard the doorbell in the night and got up. It must have been in my dream. So I got up to go and [00:46:00] answer the door. There's nobody there. And I was like, oh, I'm definitely up and I'm definitely awake. Maybe I should pray. So I did manage to squeeze out a few prayers at that point. Um, and then I made the mistake of praying this Prayer again. God, if you want me to wake up in the night and pray for anyone. And, um, so another night, I don't think it was the next night, but another night I woke up and my hot water bottle had burst and the water was all over me. I thought I'd work myself. Um, so I was, I got out of bed to like change the sheets and again, I was like, I'm definitely up and I'm awake. Maybe I should pray After that I stopped praying 'cause I was just stopped praying that Prayer because I was like, I actually don't like this. Matt: Thank God I just need some sleep. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not giving you permission any longer. No, Sharon: but maybe I should be open to that, you know? Matt: Yeah. I think it's, um, open to that. For me, it was always the stories of the hyper spiritual people. God woke me up in the night and told me to pray for such and such. Um, what about the dream thing? And you [00:47:00] see the, one of the things which fascinates me about scripture, um, is the amount of times that God does works in people's lives while they're asleep. Right? So it starts off with Adam, this amazing thing happens while he's fast asleep. Eve arrives, hello, changes everything, right? Um. Abraham, another guy, fast asleep, has this insane dream, changes everything for him. It's in a dream where God tells him to count the stars. And you kind of, you, you see this time and time again, king Saul has this crazy dream. David has crazy dreams. Daniel has these insane, and then we go into the New Testament where we see, uh, Joseph, we touched on earlier in the talk, you know, Jesus' dad, um, God tells him in a dream about Jesus and about Mary, and actually what he's got to do. And we, we see Peter having dreams with angels and all, Do you know what I mean? All kinds of things are going on in the New Testament. And so you see these things right in the Bible where God does amazing works in people's lives whilst they're sleeping. [00:48:00] Sometimes that will include dreams. Sometimes it won't, it doesn't, you know, there's no hard and fast rule on it. But have you had any, um, any of those kind of instances whilst you have slept? Mm-hmm. Sharon: I, I don't think I've had any of those kind of dreams, but. I think, um, we talked about earlier how anxiety can keep us awake, and that's definitely true for me. But there have been times when I've had like major, major battles with my mind, which I've talked about in previous talks. Um, and I'm, I'm talking like every second of the day, there's this battle going on in my mind. And, um, during the day, I've just like filled my mind with scripture, but it, it's been hard work to kind of go hang on brain. You are, you're trying to take me in this direction, but actually that, that's just leading me down the path of lies. I'm not going that way. I'm, I'm gonna just, you know, keep focused on God's word and I do that. And then at night you'd think, oh, you're not gonna sleep [00:49:00] now because you're just so anxious and so wound up. But it's like in those times, I've felt like I've gone into an amazingly deep sleep and that God has done something during the night. So. Mm. Um, yeah, I guess that would probably count. But I did think the whole thing of dreams was really interesting because again, there's a lot of it in the Bible, but again, I don't really think about it that much, but I was like, oh yeah. Uh, one question I did have on that actually was, um, I feel like, um, you know, if we're talking about dreams and dreams being from God, it seems like that's one of those areas that we can latch onto and possibly go slightly too crazy with. Um, and like start thinking, oh, every dream's from God and trying to interpret it. So how, my question is how do you know when a dream's from God and when it's just a dream, like your brain processing stuff that you've been through in the day. Matt: That's a really great question. I, I, I think the truth is, you'll know, [00:50:00] um, if I, again, if I read scripture correctly, and I'm not saying that I do at all, but this is how I see it. When I read about the dreams that people had, the person having the dream was very clear. This was communication from God, right? I mean, very, very clear that this was some kind of communication. So I told the story, uh, in the talk of the time. I woke up at five o'clock having had a dream with this lady crying, and her tears turned into gold and it was a very real and very vivid dream. And I can't explain how I knew. I just knew that was not my subconscious. I knew that was something from God, a message from God that I felt I needed to say at the church service that I was speaking at the next day. Um, well in just a few short hours. And lo and behold, I shared it and you know, it, it, it impacted somebody's life, which was amazing. And so I am, I would say I'm [00:51:00] not a heavy dreamer, as in I don't have a lot of dreams. Um, what I, what I tend to do, and this is just my process since research in this, in the Bible, this has become my process. I call it stewarding your dreams. Right? What I suggest you do is you just write your dreams down on a piece of paper if you can remember them right? That's the first phase. 'cause 98% of my dreams, I forget as soon as my eyes open. Um, and so I like to write down first thing in the morning when I wake up, any dreams that I have had that I remember. Um, and then just taking a moment just to pray and to say, God, is there anything that you are communicating to me here that I need to know about? Um. And just trusting God with those dreams. And sometimes there's, I've had one or two dreams where I'm not quite sure. Mm-hmm. Where I'm like, no, no, this is just a waste of time. That one, I know this one I think is definitely from God, but then there are these dreams where I'm not quite so sure. So I'll just write them down in my journal and I'm just like, at some point, God, if something, if that needs to happen, he'll bring it back. Do you see what I mean? Video: Mm-hmm. Sharon: Yeah. Matt: [00:52:00] Um, I dunno if that's helpful, but that tends to be how I deal with it. Sharon: Yeah. So you're not obsessing over it, kind of like trying to get some hidden meaning or, Matt: yeah. No, not at all. And I think sometimes, um, neither am I looking just for the big craziness all the time. Right. So sometimes dreams can be really simple. Like, do you remember a few weeks ago we were talking, I said to you, I had a dream about our daughter to Zoe. Um, and just, you know, I, I won't go into the details of the dream, but it was just a real simple dream. And, you know, I mentioned it to you and you connected that dream with somebody that we knew and we're like, oh, okay. That's a really interesting thing. And so God seems to have done something through that that wasn't, you know, like somebody's arm grown out. It wasn't majorly spectacular. It was just a simple thing, I think for us as a family. And so I, I don't think dreams always have to be about the big and the spectacular, I think, but I do think that God communicates with us whilst we sleep. It's not like, I guess [00:53:00] in my head right when I was. When I thought about this day was always better than night because day was when I got stuff done. Day was when I was awake, night I was asleep and I didn't really know or understand what, what, what had happened. But I think God created day and night equal. Um, and whether I'm awake or whether I'm asleep, God is still God. Do you know what I mean? It's not like he forgets about me whilst I'm asleep and I think God still works in us and does works, uh, for us and on behalf of us whilst we sleep. And that includes communicating to us. It includes doing transformative works. Um, it includes restoring our mind. It includes all the things that we know about, right? They're all from God healing all that. I mean, the way scripture and healing are connected with sleep, I've found quite fascinating in this study. All this stuff that's sort of come out of it and I think. I now go to bed, looking forward to sleep, anticipating that somehow in the midst of that God [00:54:00] is gonna work, communicate, do something in me. And it doesn't always have to be big and bold and brave, and I don't always have to understand what's going on, but God is interested whilst I sleep. Does that make sense? Sharon: Yeah. I think before when you've talked about this study that you've been doing, you have, um, talked about that, um, before how you felt like sleep was a waste of time in a, in a way because you couldn't get your stuff done. And Yeah, it is, it is a good way to look at it actually. No, sleep is from God. Sleep is a good thing. It's not just a waste of time. Matt: Yeah. I think, and I think he designed it. I mean, if he designed the day where a third of it, I'm asleep, Jesus slept, we know that Jesus slept right. So we know that this can be a good and holy thing, so why not? Right? And Peter, when he's asleep in jail, facing the death penalty the next day, he's just full of peace. He's just fast. I dunno if it was my last night on Earth, would I be asleep? I dunno. He was, he was out. He was out for the count. He was just fast asleep. And I just [00:55:00] thought that was interesting. And I think God can, and I think if you're watching this, you know, as we draw this to a close and draw this to an end. Um, if you are watching this and you are struggling to sleep, I really want to encourage you and that there is hope and that God is interested in your sleep. And just as I believe that there is a God that heals us from our sickness and disease, I, I believe that there is a God that restores sleep to us and rest and calm and Sabbath. Um, and I think that's all part of God's creation and all part of God's order. And, and I, I just wanted, you know, if you're struggling with sleep, be encouraged. God is, God is not forgotten you. Right? Yeah. That would be my top tip. Sharon: And I think if you sleep well, be grateful and thankful for the gift that you've been given. Matt: Yeah, absolutely. When you go through seasons and wake up every morning and just start stewarding your dreams, right, start writing them down in your journal. And as I said, this is not a plug for the website at all, but if you are, [00:56:00] um, if you are wanting to know more, if you wanted to follow along this study as I do it. You can read all about it at the sacred sleep book.com website. Um, that's right. Sacred Sleep. Sacred sleep book.com website as I'm just gonna put everything online, uh, and you can have a look at it and read it. Uh, I would love to know what you think about it. You can comment on it, you can, all that sort of stuff. It's a brand new site, which we put out there. Um, it's probably got at the moment about a sixth of the content that we need to actually put on there. It's just gonna take a little while, but you know, you'll. It is a bit like me, babe. I'm a work in progress. Sharon: You're doing very well though. Matt: Oh, I love it. We should definitely do this more often. You are so, so, um, encouraging. Right? Um, anything else from you, babe, that you wanna say, uh, on this whole topic before we close it off? Sharon: I don't think so. No. That's all for me. Matt: Very [00:57:00] good. So, uh, let's talk about, uh, next week. Do you know what's happening next week? I, Sharon: what's happening? I'm gonna consult my little notebook again. Uh, we are continuing in our series of what does the Bible say about and next week it's about the environment. So it should be interesting. Matt: Yeah. I'm looking forward to this one. We've got young Ellie who has not spoken at Crowd before. She's gonna be talking about the environment and what does the Bible say about the environment. I think these are fascinating topics. I genuinely do. I think this is just. It's just a beautiful thing. Uh, so do come and join us. Make sure you like unsubscribe if you haven't done so already. Uh, as we are gonna talking about that next week, what does the Bible say about the environment with Ellie? Like Matt's just put that in the comments. Thanks Matt. Matt's, uh, Matt in effect is our conscious. Uh, Jeremy, he's just like, he's conscience is just on there. Uh. What's he put here? You are talking about the earth ending and Earth is about to be blown up [00:58:00] on Dr. Who. So Matt has got two screens on at the moment, us and Dr. Who, uh, and he's paralleling the talk and the, uh, the, the happenings of Dr. Who I think that's quite an impressive skill. What does the Bible say about Dr. Hill, who maybe that should be one of the talks Anyway, so make sure you come join us next week. Make sure you like and subscribe. We are gonna play one more worship song. You are more than welcome to stick around in the comments, but that's gonna be it from Sharon and myself wants the song that's finished, the, the live stream. We will just end automatically. It's been great to be with you, uh, on this October 31st. Great to talk about this whole topic of sleep. I have totally enjoyed it, babe. Amazing to host with you. You are my favorite co-host by far. Thank you. We should do this again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. Okay, so I'm gonna push this button on my pad. So, uh, thanks for joining us. God bless you. That's, uh, it from me, so bye for it. Sharon: Okay, [00:59:00] bye.