Sleeping

 So here's a thing.......  God never slumbers or sleeps right? Psalm 121;4  We are told He is always watching over us , protecting and defending, saving and restoring us.  So when Jesus was born, for the first time in eternity God knew what it felt like to sleep!  And baby Jesus probably slept alot - cos all babies do. For 33 years , presumably every night Jesus went to sleep.  We don't know that for sure, but we do know that He did sleep because He fell asleep in the boat during the storm.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1cIFsEQJlg

I've got sleeping on my mind because over the holiday time my sleep pattern has gone completely out of the window.  I've found myself awake till 5 or 6 in the morning then finally falling asleep and not waking up till lunchtime.  Which isn't a problem when I have no work to get up for or Ben to get to school.  But it feels odd to be so out of kilter with the rest of the world.  The other day I spent the whole day in bed.  There wasn't really anything to get up for except housework.  So I woke up late, stayed under the duvet and watched back to back Christmas movies all afternoon. 😊

I wonder if Jesus liked sleeping.  Of all the many huge adjustments He had to make when He left heaven to come to earth, going to sleep must have been one of the more tricky ones.  How does a God who has never dozed off, had a nap, slept at all ever, suddenly adjust to being unconscious for several hours every day?  Maybe Jesus spent His whole night dreaming God dreams?  Or maybe He spent his nights battling with the enemy ( who Im sure took every opportunity to hassle and harass Him).  As a man who was just like us I imagine He got tired.  If He worked as a carpenter for years before He started preaching then Im sure it was hard physical labour and He needed to rest His body and mind.  When He was preaching He was walking miles from place to place.  He says He has nowhere to lay His head, which implies that He needs somewhere to lay it.  The God who never slumbers or sleeps did slumber and sleep.  And there's the conundrum.

Of course we know that whilst Jesus was fully God, God was not fully Jesus.  God was still in heaven ruling and reigning whilst Jesus was down here putting everything to rights.  So whilst Jesus was asleep God the Father remained fully active.  Which is why Jesus was able to confidently go to sleep in the storm.  Whenever I've read the story of the storm on the lake before I've always thought that the whole point is that Jesus is present in the storm.  But maybe that's not the message we are supposed to glean.  Perhaps what we should be realising is that if Jesus is quiet while the waves are rising and the boat is filling up it is because He is supremely confident in the ability of God the Father to keep Him and us safe.   If the disciples hadn't woken Jesus would the boat have gone down?  No, of course not.  Jesus had said that His mission was on the other side of the lake.  So they were going to the other side come hell or high water.  Literally.  Perhaps our test in the storm is not to go shouting to Jesus, waking Him from His sleep, but to sit tight in the boat trusting that if Jesus has invited us into this boat on this voyage then He and His Father are more than capable of getting us through the storm.

One of my favourite verses is Psalm 127;2


Despite the fact that God doesn't sleep He knows how good sleep is for us and He gives it to us freely.  May you sleep super well as we move into a New Year and may all your sleeps of 2023 be God given and good.


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