Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb and once famously said, “A million years from now we won’t go to bed at all. Really, sleep is an absurdity, a bad habit. We can’t suddenly throw off the thralldom of the habit, but we shall throw it off.”

We have learned a lot about our need for sleep since Edison’s time, but we still tend to fight sleep like an inconvenience. In some conversations, lack of sleep is announced like a badge of honor.

Americans, especially, do not get enough sleep. According to one study, we are sleeping less than seven hours per night on average and the trend is getting worse.

The Bible tells us that sleep is a gift. We can add it to the list of good things that come from His hand every day. In a psalm by Solomon, we learn, “He gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2, ESV). After a hard day of work, sleep is a beautiful reward as Solomon also notes, “the sleep of a laborer is sweet” (Ecclesiastes 5:12, ESV).

God designed our minds to take in information all day long. According to neuroscientists, sleep is the time the brain consolidates that information. It’s a cycle that has been working wonders for years.

Aside from the technical and physical needs met by sleep, what else does sleep do for us? What are some spiritual benefits from this nightly routine? Here are some possibilities:

• Sleep highlights our need for others. From the earliest times, human beings were aware of the dichotomy of sleep: we need it, but it leaves us vulnerable. Families who banded together to form towns and cities knew they would need watchmen who took turns guarding those who slept in peace. God knew we needed the reminder that we function better together.
• Sleep is a solace from trouble. The Bible does not pretend that man’s life is not a struggle. It does not sugarcoat the pains of this life. Built into this system is a daily escape – a temporary, healthy refuge from the thoughts that might otherwise weigh too heavily.
• Sleep can be a gauge alerting us to deeper problems. Uneasy sleep can mean many things and we are wise to explore its causes. Just as the sleep of the laborer is sweet, the sleep of the lazy and indulgent is not (Ecclesiastes 5:12).
• Sleep reminds us that God is greater. Sleep is natural and wonderful for human beings… and not a part of God’s life whatsoever. Though God may have rested from work on the seventh day of creation, we read, “Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121, ESV). God does not sleep – there is no gap of time where He cannot see us and strengthen us. There is no span of the day or night when He is “dead to the world”… such an idea is laughable. Sleep reminds us that He is greater than mere mortals.

Enjoy the gift of sleep provided by the Father who never sleeps. He knows you need it!