For over a decade, I have lived with a sleep disorder that usually limits me to between two-and-a-half and four hours of uninterrupted rest per night. I have probably mentioned that once or twice in this space. I don’t have any trouble at all getting to sleep; I nod right off in a heartbeat as soon as I lie down and turn out the light. I just can’t make sleep last, and once I’m awake again after a nap, nodding back off is impossible.
That’s been great in some ways. I have no end of opportunity for Bible study and prayer when most people are sawing logs. On the other hand, I’m not usually up to much socially later on in the evening. By ten I’m right out of gas. The third period of most hockey games ain’t happening no matter how much I’d like to see the final score.
Very, Very Bad!
I can’t count the number of people who have reminded me over the years that science says sleep deprivation is very, very bad for the human body and mind. Long-term lack of sleep will surely shorten my life and possibly make me a little nutty. No doubt they are correct. Lack of sleep might explain a few things about my flagging memory.
I also can’t count the number of pieces of well-intentioned advice I’ve received from family, friends and acquaintances about how to remedy the situation. Melatonin. Other supplements. Going to bed same time every night. Turning off text and email notifications on phone and computer. Avoiding artificial light in the hour before bedding down. Not eating late in the day, and not consuming anything caffeinated or alcoholic within several hours of bedtime. A dark, quiet bedroom. Sleep clinics, CPAP machines and, yes, somnifacients and/or CBD, neither of which I would touch with a ten-foot pole. Short version: nothing works — nothing I would put in my system, at least.
I was reading an article on a Christian blog the other day that mentioned a “theology of sleep”, something I’ve never investigated to any great degree. Hey, why not? Let’s have at it.
Anesthesia and Revelation
The first mention of sleep in scripture is more like divine anesthesia than nodding off for a nap. In Genesis 2, God puts Adam into a deep sleep in order to borrow a rib from which he makes him an appropriate help. Unique as that incident is, it probably won’t help a whole lot in building a “sleep theology”. (Have I mentioned that I don’t think much of the so-called “Law of First Mention”? It’s certainly not universal. While occasionally helpful, as often as not the first biblical reference to any particular word or expression tells us nothing genuinely useful about the term and may predispose younger Bible students to read things into the text that are simply not there.)
Also in Genesis, Abram and his grandson Jacob both fell into deep slumber thirteen chapters apart, during which each received important revelations or visions from the Lord. Again, probably not something most of us will experience. The dreams I actually recall are either banal or scary, rarely spiritually uplifting.
Speaking of uplifting, Deuteronomy 31 gives us the first of many instances where “sleep” is a metaphor for death. The prophet Isaiah makes sleep a metaphor for spiritual dullness.
Are we getting anywhere yet?
A Little Prescription
Okay, let’s see if we can find anything prescriptive to work with.
First, getting a good sleep is evidently important for hard-working poor people, certainly better than shivering all night. It’s right there in the Law of Moses. Both Exodus and Deuteronomy forbid taking a man’s cloak as a pledge. “In what else shall he sleep?” “It shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.” Yes, the Lord cares about the unfortunates among us, and he cares about whether they get decent quality rest.
Solomon also reminds us that there are some things more important than a good rest, like making sure you don’t give a pledge for a stranger (“Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber”). When matters of importance need to be addressed, sleep can wait.
Too Much Sleep
Sleeping too much may also be an indication of inattentiveness, spiritual or otherwise. If a woman can weave your hair into a loom while you’re out cold in her lap, you are probably insufficiently alert to danger. Another great sleeper was King Saul, but we’ll have to give him a pass because “a deep sleep from the Lord” had overtaken both him and his guards. That’s a soporific nobody can fight off. Still, David could easily have ended his life right then. The apostle Paul made a similar comment to the Romans: “Wake up, folks!”
Sleeping too much may signal a medical condition in some. For most, it is just a sign of laziness. The writer of Proverbs says, “How long will you lie there, O sluggard?” The moral? Don’t.
Speaking of too much sleep, the Lord rebuked his closest disciples in Gethsemane for repeated failures to stay alert and be prayerful, risking temptation. They kept dozing off as he agonized in prayer and suffered alone. Luke points out their problem was emotional exhaustion, not calculated laziness. Nevertheless, spiritual lethargy remains a battle Christians need to fight even when legitimately worn out.
Good Sleep
Psalm 4 makes peaceful sleep a gift from the Lord to those who put their trust in him and those he loves. Proverbs says those who pursue wisdom will sleep well. Perhaps that’s my problem. On the other hand, proverbs are generalizations, not universalisms.
Ecclesiastes says hard work will knock you out at night. That’s one strategy. On the other hand, Solomon writes that overeating will keep you up. Science confirms.
Summing It Up
Perhaps the idea of building a “sleep theology” is a little aspirational. Sometimes sleep is a blessing from the Lord to those he loves. A pattern of reasonable, regular sleep is a very good thing if you can pull it off, then spend the day serving the Lord with the energy of a restful night.
More often, sleep can be a sign of self-indulgence, weakness, laziness or inattentiveness. In general, the danger for Christians is not too little sleep but too much, especially in a metaphorical sense. The quiet of night is possibly the best time of all to meditate on the things of God, as the psalmist reminds us. I have found that to be the case repeatedly. There are far fewer distractions at 3:00 a.m. than at noon.
Does any of this help remedy my sleep disorder? Probably not. Like most other things about my life that I can’t control, I have stopped worrying about it much.
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