HarleyDad's Apology on Sleep

Now HarleyDad takes the position that sleeping in church is a good thing. In fact the well equipped church might out fit a section with pillows and down comforters for the good parishioners in order that they might sleep comfortably during services. Sort of a Pullman section of the auditorium.

When you sleep, God can speak certain things to you that you are too busy to hear if you are awake.

Further, God uses sleep and dreams to carry out his purposes. Now you don’t hear too many sermons about this because priests, ministers and pastors don’t like you listening to someone else, even God, when you are supposed to be listening to them.

Adam

But God does good things to us when we sleep. A good example is in Genesis 21.

v.21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.
v.22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

So God puts Adam to sleep and makes a woman, Eve. Now there is not a real man alive that would not admit that a little slumber did not pay off in a big way!!

Surgeons have been putting us to sleep for a little bit of surgery ever since. And HarleyDad for one thinks it is a good thing. No natural birth for the guys –no Lamaze for us. We goin’ to sleep when we get worked on. If you don’t want to be put out for a little surgery, then that’s your business-but for me and my house we are going the way of the Lord. Put me in a deep sleep for all my surgery, thank you very much.

And from the deep sleep, and the surgery of God (it was outpatient by the way) came a great blessing into the life ofa man!

Jacob

Then there is Jacob-the sleepy head. So he is heading for Haran, gets to Bethel and lies down and this is what happens in Genesis 28:

v.11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.
v.12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
v.13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it you and to your descendants.”

See, God deals with you while we are in a dream state. He could of talked to him while he was traveling about; but instead waited until he took 40 winks. And besides, that Jacob knew how to sleep. He used a rock as a pillow. When I was a kid, I would use two or three hymnals for pillows which is about equivalent to a rock. Each one of the hymnals contained the song “Rock of Ages.” So sometimes when we sleep, God speaks to us and reveals himself. So if God can speak in the middle of the night while Jacob is a asleep with a rock as a pillow, then we too can be spoken to through dreams as we sleep in church.

Joseph

Joseph was always sleeping having dreams. In Genesis 37:6-7, he told one to his family about how their sheath of grain bowed down to his. Of course, the family was not too excited about the dream. So they sold him into slavery into Egypt. But later he interpreted some dreams for Pharoah and became the Vice-Pharoah (like a Vice President but only better). And yes their sheaths did bow down to his sheath.

When HarleyDad has a dream like this, he tries not to tell it to the relatives. They still get mad.

Samuel

You remember Samuel. He was the young kid that got dropped off by his mom, Hanah, at church and had to work for old Eli. Well, in Samuel 3 it tell about how God began speaking to Samuel at night. He kept waking up Eli and saying: “Did you call me?” Finally, Eli says to Samuel that it is God and that he should listen to what God has to say.” You see, you can get an invitation from God even as you sleep in the middle of the night. So if you sleep in the church, God can still deal with your heart and cause you to come forward at invitation time. (some of my good friend do not know what an invitation is-that is the part at the end of the service when the minister asks people to come forward for one of the following reasons: to follow Christ, to join the church, to rededicate their life to Christ, to be prayed for healing or other needs).

Daniel

Daniel was always falling asleep and having dreams and visions. He saved his people through a night vision in Daniel 2:19 and saved all the wise men of Babylon by interpreting the King’s Dream about the giant statue. In Daniel 7:1 it says that Daniel “saw a dream and visions as he lay on his bed.”

In Daniel 8:18 the angel Gabriel is talking to Daniel and it says:

v.18 Now while he was talking with me, I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and made me stand upright.

Now if Daniel can go to sleep when Gabriel is talking to him, then when I go to sleep in the service as the preacher is talking, I am following a long and honored history of people who drop off to sleep.

David

David said in Psalms 127:2 ;”He gives sleep to those he loves.”

So when I go to sleep in church it is a sign that I am loved anyway. If you don’t sleep in church, well-you will need to draw your own conclusions.

The Gift of Dreams

Now it is true that the older (or younger you are) the more likely it is that you will sleep in church. As for the older men, they almost have an obligation to sleep in church because it says that “Your old men will dream dreams.” This verse is found in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 evidencing that it is an admonition both in the Old and New Testaments. So I am obligated to sleep so that I will dream dreams. These are dreams that speak of God, His beauty, and His majesty and His will.

Jesus, Dreams and Sleeping

Sleep and Dreams were an important part of the life of Jesus.

In Matthew 1:20-Joseph is told in a dream that he is to get hitched (Ozarklandian for married) to Mary.

In Matthew 2:12, the wisemen get out of town and do not go back to Herod being warned in a dream.

Matthew 2:22, Joseph decides to go to Galilee after having a warning from God in a dream.

Matthew 8:24, Jesus demonstrates his ability to sleep in the front of a boat during a storm.

Peter and the Apostles

Everybody knows that Peter and the Apostles (sounds like a singing group) knew how to sleep . I have already discussed how they “sacked out” in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But Peter had already demonstrated his sleeping prowess by falling asleep while Christ was on the Mountain of Transfiguration in Luke 9:32. And like all of us who get woke up, he begins to say foolish things. “ I have a great idea-let’s build three tabernacles.” God himself tells Peter to shut up and listen up to what Jesus was going to say.

Yep, my experience is that you keep your mouth shut when you wake up lest you blurt out something stupid in church.

But Peter gets the award for the all time great sleeper. In Acts 12 Herod captures Peter and throws him into jail intending to kill him.

v. 4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.
v.6 On the very night that Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.
v. 7 And behold an Angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shown in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying: Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.
v. 8 And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so And he said to him ”Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
v.9 And he went out and continued to follow and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

Peter gets the award. He is going to be killed by Herod. He is chained between two guards. He takes off his shoes and takes off his cloak and goes to sleep. And God takes care of him.

When the angel comes and angelic light floods the prison does Peter get up. No, he just yawns and sets the clock for another 20 minutes of sleep. The angel has to kick him in the side to get him up.

Conclusion

HarleyDad is following the practices and traditions of a long line of Old and New Testament Saints as he sleeps in church. Like all those who have slept before him he depends upon the mercies of God to those who sleep and the wonderful dreams of God that God grants to those who are his children.

HarleyDad