Sound Asleep

“And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.” (Ac 12:7 AV)

 

Here is a man who has so much faith, that while laying in fetters in the hole of a dungeon, was so fast asleep the angel had to kick him in the side just to wake him up.  The verse that follows tells us Peter had removed his sandals, taken his cloak off, and removed his belt.  Peter was so comfortable in his situation he made ready for bed and was in a deep sleep.  If I was Peter, I may not have slept a wink at all.  I would have fussed all night.  Not knowing what the next day might hold, I don’t think I would have slept at all.  A quick death would not have been my concern.  But witnessing what they did with Jesus prior to His crucifixion, I might be full of anxiety.  Also, knowing the manner of death prophesied about me, that being, upside-down crucifixion, I may not have slept well at all.  But Peter, a man full of faith, was able to sleep such a deep sleep that the angel had to smite him out of this sleep.  We also learn that he wasn’t fully awake when he was broke out of prison.  He thought he was dreaming.  This is a man at peace with his circumstances.

I am scratching my head to come up with an anecdote from my past that was similar.  Much to my embarrassment, most of mine were just the opposite.  To say that I am no giant of faith when it comes to the trials of life would be an understatement.  My experiences are just the opposite.  I remember our first house.  This house was a foreclosure which my wife’s employer brought to us.  It was a deal we couldn’t pass up.  When we moved in, the house had been abandoned in the middle of the night.  There were old clothes and toys and household items all over the place.  This house was a cape cod.  The upstairs was one big room with a crawl space for storage.  The crawl space was absolutely packed with junk.  The basement was wall-to-wall garbage.  The basement was so full of junk there was absolutely no space to walk.  The trash was right up to the water heater and furnace.  Fire is one of my serious fears.  I would lay awake at night wondering if something near the furnace or water heater might start the house on fire.  There was so much stuff there would have been no way we and our children would have gotten out of there alive.  When we finally did clear it all out, the pile amounted to three dump trucks full of stuff.  To say I didn’t sleep well would not be sufficient.  I hardly slept at all.

But here is the thing.  Through all that, God kept our little family safe.  Those years taught us great lessons in God’s provision and watch-care.  It was during those years we had a time when there was no food in the pantry, yet God fed us anyway.  It was during those years when there was no money to buy heating fuel, yet God kept our house warm.  It was during those years that we learned that God is greater than anything we will ever go through.  How time causes us to forget that.  Prosperity comes and we forget how mighty God really is.  So, He puts us in a dungeon to remind us of what He is capable of doing.  He asks us to trust Him and the depth of our slumber manifests just how much we do trust Him.  Peter is an astounding saint.  He had zeal with faith.  A hard combination to find.  He had it.  What He had we can have, too.  This requires going through the fires of testing.  It requires being forced to survive and thrive amid difficult situations.  But if we will take our sandals off, remove our cloak and belt, and lay down in deep slumber, we too can experience the hand of God.  We, too, might feel like we are dreaming a dream.