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@READINGSPURGEON: PSALM 127:2 (NPSP1S12)

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@ReadingSpurgeon: Psalm 127:2 – The Peculiar Sleep of the Beloved (NPSP1S12)

Sleep is a gift from God. It is a great physician. There are some who deny themselves of it for gain or ambition. But this sleep is not C. H. Spurgeon’s focus in his sermon on Psalm 127:2 – “For so he gives his beloved sleep.”

Under 6 headings, he preaches about the sleep that God gives to His beloved.

I. The miraculous sleep

This is the sleep that “God has sometimes given to His beloved – which He does not NOW grant.” The kind experienced by men like Adam, Abram, Joseph, David, Daniel, and Joseph the earthly father of Jesus, where God makes His plans and purposes known.

God does not act in this way now, though it is true that He does warn us in dream and visions. “But we never trust dreams.”

II. The sleep of a quiet conscience

“If you have sinned but once, you shall be dammed for it, unless you have something to take away that one sin. You do not know this sleep, but the Christian does.”

III. The sleep of contentment

“How few people in this world are satisfied.” But the Christian can sleep because they are satisfied with what they have.

IV. The sleep of quietness of soul as to the future

“All persons have need to dread the future, except the Christian. God gives to His beloved a happy sleep with regard to the events of coming time.”

V. The sleep of security

“To know that if I died I should enter heaven” and “to be as sure as I am of my existence that God, having loved me with an everlasting love, and He being immutable, will never hate me if He has once loved me.”

VI. The sleep of happy dismission

When you die, “Your soul sleeps not, for you are in heaven, but your body sleeps. Death has laid you in your last couch. It may be cold, but it is sanctified. It may be damp, but it is safe. And on the resurrection morning, when the archangel shall set his trumpet to his mouth, you shall rise… Sleep on in your grave, for you shall rise to glory.”

But, “If, sirs, you were to die unprepared, and unconverted, and unsaved, “There remains nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.”

Spurgeon concludes with a question, he wants all his listeners to answer. “Do you seriously and solemnly believe that you belong to the “beloved” here mentioned?”

28 TAKEAWAYS FROM AND SO TO BED…

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Notes and quotes from And so to Bed… by Adrian Reynolds.

1. “And so to bed.” (Samuel Pepys, Diarist – Entry: 4 Jan. 1660)

2. Sleep is important because of what it does for us now and what it teaches us about the future.

3. “Sleep is part of our created humanity, a good gift from God to be treasured and enjoyed; an earthly picture of a spiritual reality.”

4. How much sleep do people need? Varies from person to person, but on average:
Newborn babies = 16-18 hours.
One year old = 13-14 hours.
Children = 9-10 hours.
Teenagers = 8-9 hours.
Adults = 7-8 hours (but older adults can get by on 6-7 hours when supplemented by daytime naps).

5. Jesus sleeping is a sign of His trust and faith in His Father’s providential care. The perfect man got tired and needed rest.

6. “It’s normal to be tired. It’s normal to need sleep.”

7. God the Father is the giver of every good and perfect gift and sleep is one of the good gifts He gives.

8. God sometimes prevents us from sleeping and He does so for a particular purpose.

9. Do you ever pray for the gift of sleep? Do you ever thank God for the gift of sleep?

10. “The willingness to lie down and sleep is itself an expression of trust in the sovereign hand of God. Nothing is going to happen to me that He does not determine. Nothing bad is going to happen that He does not allow. Every breath I take is down to Him, waking or sleeping.”

11. We can sleep because God does not. “It is precisely God’s sleeplessness (or more exactly, His lack of need for sleep) that means our sleep can be safe, sound and tranquil. God’s sleepless character is the very reason that the good gift of sleep He gives to His children can be both treasured and enjoyed.”

12. Sleep like all of God’s good gifts can become an idol. Both for those who sleep well and those who don’t.

13. “It is possible to sleep the sleep of the unrighteous… It’s possible to be living a life of rebellion against God and His purposes and still get a good night’s kip. The best Bible example of this is Jonah.”

14. “Even though we cannot guarantee we will wake from our sleep safe and sound every morning, we do have the certainty of a greater promise.”

15. A number of the Dissenter’s tombstones have on them three simple words: “Asleep in Jesus”.

16. “Jesus seems to equate death with sleep because it implies that there is something more to come.”

17. “Unsurprisingly, sleep is not generally language that unbelievers use. Many (though not all) do not like to acknowledge the possibility of resurrection because it implies the possibility of an accounting.”

18. “If we have nothing to worry about the next day, we know we are more inclined to sleep. And this is why sleep is such a good metaphor for Christian death (even though it is true for all death).”

19. When we wake up and thank God for a good night’s sleep, we should also be thanking Him that one day we will wake up and be in His presence for all eternity.

20. Why can’t people sleep? There are practical reasons. There are medical reasons. And there are also spiritual reasons too.

21. “Our sovereign God allows even those who don’t acknowledge Him to understand something of humanity and have the wisdom to fix things that go wrong.” This means that there are practical things you can do to help you sleep better.

22. “The world will not tell you that there may be biblical and spiritual answers to sleeplessness. But there are.”

23. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Guide me safely through the night, Wake me with the morning light.”

24. Lack of sleep is often connected to anxiety.

25. “Contentment is that settled comfort Christians have in knowing that God knows what we need, in the greatest detail.”

26. When we go to sleep as Christians, we are going to sleep as those who have everything.

27. To ignore what God might be showing us in our sleeplessness is a denial of His universal rule.

28. Sleep doesn’t just prepare us for the next day. It prepares us for eternity.

GET THAT EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP

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file1651337415376Tony Schwartz:

“The vast majority of leaders I meet don’t get enough sleep to be fully rested.

Too many of us continue to live by the durable myth that one less hour of sleep gives us one more hour of productivity. 

In reality, each hour less of sleep not only leaves us feeling more fatigued, but also takes a pernicious toll on our cognitive capacity. 

The more consecutive hours we are awake and the fewer we sleep at night, the less alert, focused and efficient we become, and the lower the quality of our work. 

The most powerful short-term solution for insufficient sleep isn’t caffeine or sugar. 

It’s a brief nap.”

(Photo: pedrojperez)