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Articles
Sleep vs. Rest
I love sleep. I really do. I don't get quite as much as I did in the days before the children arrived, but I still try to get my fair share. I rarely get as much as I want, but I generally get as much as I need.
Having expressed my fondness for sleep, though, I must remember from time to time that sleep is almost universally a bad thing in the Bible. Sleep is a barrier between us and the task at hand (Proverbs 10:5). Sleep is the result of a failure to plan for the future, a short-sighted focus on immediate wants that leaves important long-term projects unattended (Proverbs 24:30-34). Sleep is tantamount to inattentiveness for the Christian, particularly in spiritual matters; we are admonished to “wake up” and view the coming of our Savior that looms ever on the horizon (Romans 13:11). Sleep is the state of spiritual stupor that characterized us before we knew the Lord (Ephesians 5:14).
But interestingly enough, “rest” is a word that is almost universally positive in the Bible. God instituted a day of rest for the people of Israel (Leviticus 16:31). He promised Israel a rest from its wanderings when He took them into the Promised Land under Joshua (Joshua 1:13). Jesus promises us rest when we come to Him and lay our burdens upon Him (Matthew 11:28). And the faithful are said to “rest from their labors” after they pass from this physical existence (Revelation 14:13).
The “labors” are the key. The Bible depicts sleep as being an end unto itself, a drag on our productivity in His service. Rest, on the other hand, is the reward He extends to us after our service is completed. The Sabbath was the seventh day, not the first; it rewarded labor rather than avoiding it. And the “Sabbath rest” (Hebrews 4:8-10) that awaits us looks all the more appealing when we put in “a good day’s work” in preparation for it. If we try to rest here, we will miss our rest there. So let us labor with the time and opportunities God blesses us with here, all the while anticipating the day our labors will end and our reward will begin.
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“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
