Don't Stay Up All Night

I drove home late the other night and began to get tired. As I stopped to get gas, it changed from night to morning as the clock ticked past midnight. I was still about an hour from home and I wanted to get back to my family and my own bed. I walked around as the fuel pumped. I wanted to feel more awake for the final leg of my journey.
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No doubt about it, the sleep was sweet once I was finally able to lay my head on the pillow, but how important is sleep? Had I continued to drive without getting out and moving around, I would have become a danger to myself and others. Had I continued to drive much later instead of arriving at home it would have also been hazardous.
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Sadly, some suggest that sleep deprivation is a sign of spirituality. No doubt we must take into account the verses that say, “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.” (Proverbs 24:33-34 NKJV) In other words, if you are too lazy to get out of bed and go to work, do not be surprised if you are a victim of poverty.
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Still, there is another side to this issue. With modern lighting, it is much easier to stay up late and avoid sleep. From the Christian perspective this too can be a problem. First of all, let us not forget that God created man to need rest. The Lord said in Mark 2:27, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath day was set apart for man as a day of rest because God understands that we need to rest.
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The Psalms speak of meditating on God’s word day and night and even give special attention to focusing on it at night, but simply depriving ourselves of sleep can end up being an exercise in vanity. Psalms 127:2 tells us, “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Let us not neglect the gift of sleep. Even modern medical science shows us that sleep deprivation is hazardous to our health. As Christians our bodies are God’s temple. We need to take care of our bodies, and that includes getting enough sleep.
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But sometimes laziness can take the form of being poor stewards of our sleep. For example the person who only got 4 hours of sleep because they stayed up half the night watching TV is not less lazy than the person who got 9 hours of sleep after a hard days work. Ecclesiastes 5:12 tells us that the sleep of a labouring man is sweet.
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As Christians we need to be careful not to love sleep so that it leads to poverty (Proverbs 20:13), while still getting the rest that God made us to need. This is one of the many areas of the Christian life where if we only look at a couple of isolated verses, we can end up with wrong conclusions. Biblical balance shows us that we should not be lazy and spend all our time sleeping, but it also shows us that we need rest. Therefore, if you are reading this in bed and it is time to get up, throw off those covers and get to work. If you are falling asleep while reading this after a hard days work, then reward yourself with a good night’s sleep.

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