“Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine
eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a
bird from the hand of the fowler.” (Pr 6:4-5
AV)
Solomon is not saying that sleep is a bad
thing. Sleep is necessary. Otherwise, we would collapse. We have to take verse four in the context of verse
five. That is, when there is an evident
threat, it is not wise to seek rest. The
priority here is deliverance from the hand of the hunter and fowler. Note also the words which the Spirit dictated
to Solomon. Note the word ‘give’. The eyes and eyelids demand sleep. They seek it.
They require it. They demand rest
comes to the body and mind. They droop
heavily in an attempt for the will to surrender to their need. Yet, the Spirit says not to give it. Sleep is a matter of the will. At least initially. When trouble is near and rest would deprive one
of escape, don’t give in. Another way of
looking at this apathy. Apathy says of
trouble, it does not need to be handled right now. Apathy says of danger, it is not really all
that dangerous. Apathy does not allow
for full attention to be paid to a situation that requires it. Spiritual sleep ignores threats or temptations
to sin. Apathy is the tool that lulls the
saint into a false sense of security and often finds itself at the mercy of
circumstances.
Working the graveyard shift is not an easy thing
to do. I did as much while working at a
factory. There were enough dangerous situations
lurking around every corner. We worked
with very heavy manufacturing equipment.
We worked around serious temperatures.
If the laborer was tired and not at full alert, he could hazard his
health and even his life. Our factory
took great pains to provide a safe work environment. There were many redundant safeguards in
place. The graveyard shift had higher
than average incidents of workplace injuries.
This is understandable. We are
not built to be awake in the middle of the night. Our bodies produce a hormone called melatonin
which floods our system when the sun goes down and dissipates just before
sunrise. The LORD gave us this hormone as
a way to help us sleep. To adjust to
working when your body wants to sleep us a near to impossible task. Even in my own experience, there were times I
had to take “special forces naps” to get through a night. That is where you close your eyes for five minutes
at regular intervals so you are awake for the better part of the night. An internal clock would wake me out of light slumber
because I had people and machines to watch.
Paul
said, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of
sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Ro 13:11
AV) There are so many dangers for the
child of God and we are lulled to sleep by the idea things will always get
better. They will not. The lost sinner is lulled to sleep by the belief
he has time and is in no real danger.
Not true. We believe the absence
of consequences means we are fine, not realizing our predator is just out of
eyesight and can be on un in an instant.
The fowler would release his eagle or hawk. This predator would fly extremely high and
use the sun and a backdrop. The brightness
of the sun and the height of his distance put the prey at ease. In an instant, that hawk or eagle can swoop
down and grab that little dove right out of the air. This is how close we are to danger. The predator takes no prisoners nor cares one
bit what happens to his prey. Now is not
the time for rest. That will come in
eternity. Now is the time to “watch and
pray lest you fall into temptation.”
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