What Does The Bible Say About Sleep?

This is an intriguing question. Why are we asking this question?

Every week, I get emails and messages from good folks all over the world asking me all kinds of questions about the Christian faith. One of the things that we can do is track trends in those questions related to what is happening in society at the moment. One of the particular trends that I noticed, was one that I wasn't expecting.

By far the most popular topic I was asked about during lockdown was sleep. People were having trouble sleeping. It wasn't just Christians asking me, it was everyone. 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?

It's not just the folks that emailed me either. Around 1 in 10 of us are taking some kind of sleeping aid at the moment, and they're the ones we know of. A lot of people are taking sleep medication and not telling their doctor. The fear is that through the pandemic, this has risen massively, and is causing 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 want to work through some of those questions because if we've got a crisis, I want to know what the Bible says about it.

What Does God Say About Sleep?

If we look at 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. Then He created man, and it went downhill from there, according to Bailey, from Grey's Anatomy. God then decides 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 it's place 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 and death, there was sleep. In God's original creation, there was sleep and Adam experienced this transforming power of God whilst he slept. Adam experienced God's creation and provision in life-altering ways as he slept.

Now, I used to read this passage about God causing Adam to fall asleep and thought, has God given Adam some kind of heavenly anaesthetic here? He was going to 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 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. I'm not sure that's 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 anaesthetic, and ask, 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. I think God is emphasising the importance of sleep. Are there times that we need to sleep if we want God to work in our lives? Is he leading us to the idea that sleep is God's idea and that he made us for sleep?

Is God The Source Of Sleep?

That becomes my next question. When we read in Genesis again, we see that God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam. God caused it. It's not just either. We read that God did the same to people all over the Bible. He causes people to fall into a deep sleep, and when he does, it's usually to do some kind of transformative work. God interjects in the course of human history. Psalm 127:2 tells us that he, God, gives His beloved sleep. That's you, that's me, we're his beloved. He gives us sleep. 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 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.”

-- Matthew 11:28-30

It's one of the most astounding verses in the Bible. Jesus here is saying that you'll learn about real rest. And one thing is sure, as we read through the Bible is that God is the source of sleep. He is the source of true rest.

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, that God is mad at me? Well, I don't think so. Let me be totally clear. I have some terrific friends who are deeply faithful Christians, who find sleep hard. That doesn't make them bad people. It also doesn't make me a better person if I sleep better than they do.

David, who is known for slaying Goliath, was the chap that said, it's God who gives his beloved sleep. But David also wrote, 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. Maybe it's grief or anguish, maybe it's anxiety or fear, or maybe stress. We might be working too hard. Maybe it's a lack of exercise or a long-term illness. I don't know. There are many reasons that we don't sleep. The most popular by far is anxiety of some kind. That's what's caused this sleep epidemic during the pandemic- anxiety.

So what causes the anxiety in us to make sleep so complex?

What Keeps You Up At Night?

Since being a parent, I've found it harder to sleep when my kids are out than if they're in. I sleep easier if I know where they all are. If I'm travelling the next day, 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 where I've struggled to sleep because of something that was or wasn't happening in the business. Things worry us. Sharon touched on this a few weeks ago when she asked, What does the Bible say about anxiety? It's well worth a watch if you've not seen it already.

Things worry us and that affects our sleep. Many of us found this true during the COVID pandemic. We've all had worries and anxieties, and they affect our sleep. The irony is the worse we sleep the more anxious we become. It's a downward spiral. But can anything be done? Does the Bible give us any help?

I know from scripture, that just as God is the source of all healing, he's also the source of sleep. Despite the pain and agony of not sleeping, he's still the source. When David wrote about drenching his bed with tears, he knew the secret was within God and that in Him, there is hope. 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. If you are not sleeping, as bad as it is, remember, there is always hope.

A dream …

A few years ago, before speaking at a church meeting, I woke up in the middle of the night, which is unusual for me. I woke up because of a dream that I had, which is also rare for me. So this was unusual. It was so vivid and clear. In my dream, I saw a lady leaning on the edge of a bathtub, cradling the side, pouring out her heart to God and tears were streaming down her face. Those tears then turned to gold. The next day, I'm speaking at the church, and I happen to mention this dream. A lady came up to me after the service, introduced herself and told me that it was her that was in the dream. She was awake at five o'clock in the morning, in the bath leaning over the side, pouring out her heart, crying to God. I got to tell her that God saw her, and that her tears, were as gold, and that she could have hope. Both of us were encouraged that day. I have never forgotten it. This dream reminds me that both David and this lady found hope in their pain and their nighttime tears.

Peter’s example

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 decided he wanted to kill the Christian leaders of the time and increase the persecution against the church. So, he has Peter arrested. Now, Herod wasn't arresting Peter to have a one-to-one with him, so he could talk about donating funds to the church roof project. No. Instead, Herod has Peter thrown into prison, and the plan is to bring him before the crowds on Passover. The Bible tells us that when Herod had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover, to bring him out to the people. So Peter is arrested, thrown into prison, he has four squads of soldiers to guard him. The next day, like I said, he's gonna be brought out to the crowds, which is the same crowd that has a habit of crucifying people they don't particularly like. This is a situation that would cause anxiety in me, that's for sure. Peter is in a genuine life-threatening situation. So what happens?

The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Somehow, in the midst of all this craziness, facing a death sentence the next day, he fell asleep. I find that extraordinary because it means that amidst the most harrowing experiences, we can find peace from God and what I like to call a sacred sleep.

Sometimes the most faith-filled act we can do is sleep. Sometimes the best type of spiritual warfare is to just fall asleep. Peter, at this particular point, wasn't having a light nap, he wasn't dozing. How do we 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.”

-- Acts 12:7

We know that Peter was in a deep sleep because despite the bright light in the room, despite the presence of an angel, he was still sleeping. The angel had to kick him in the side to wake him up. We can experience this sacred sleep. Even amidst horrors, we can know the peace and tranquillity that only God can provide us as we sleep. We can learn from Peter about sacred sleep. We can learn from the Bible, that sleep is from God, that we can sleep in his supernatural peace and that we can experience His healing and transformation when we do sleep.

There's one other thing about sleep that I think we should quickly touch on. When we sleep, we dream, and God-given dreams can change the course of human history.

So Does God Give Us Dreams Whilst We Sleep?

I want to look at a dreamer from the Bible, Jesus' dad, Joseph. Let's quickly recap the story. Joseph and Mary are betrothed, as was the custom of the day and they were kind of partway through their marriage ceremony. This ceremony could take years to complete, and they're partway through it. But then, there is what can only be described as a curveball. An angel appears to Mary, gives her the most extraordinary opportunity and she conceives by the Holy Spirit. Within a day or two of that happening, Mary runs off to spend time with her cousin Elizabeth. She stays there for three months and finally returns to Nazareth to tell Joseph that she is three months pregnant. Then, to top it all off, Mary blames it on God.

What would you think? Your wife has been away for three months in the mountains, returns pregnant, and blames God for her conceiving. She takes absolutely no personal responsibility whatsoever. I don't think you'd be thinking pleasant thoughts, would you? You would think she's had an affair, that she has committed adultery. No man ever wants to hear that his wife is three months pregnant when he knows he's not the one who's been involved in that whole process. This is a pretty big train wreck for Joseph's life plans.

So what does the Bible say happens next?

Joseph, 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 Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy 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 to him his wife.

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 about Mary. As a result of that, not only is Joseph's life changed but the whole of human history will now no longer be the same because Mary gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. God had radical plans and the best way to get this across to Joseph was as he slept.

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 us to think about our own sin before we think about the sins of others. We also find that the Christmas story starts with sleep.

So to summarise, God is the source of sleep. God transforms our lives as we sleep, and God can communicate with us as we sleep. I've started to call this sleep where God's involved, sacred sleep.

Because of all the emails that I get asking about sleep, I decided actually to spend a lot of time last year studying the Bible and looking at this topic of sleep. It has been one of the most eye-opening studies that I have done, let me tell you. There is so much in the Bible about sleep that you could 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 of that book online for free for you to follow along with if you want to know more. It's going to take me a while to finish it, but we're partway through. If you do want to know more, just head on over to the website, sacredsleepbook.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. Do have a look though because this whole topic of sleep is phenomenal.