Sleepy? Or Are You Awake?

I fell asleep taking the final exam in a college English class. Suddenly my fellow student was poking me in the ribs. Wake up! The professor had just told him to wake me up so I could finish the exam. Suddenly I felt hot – and awfully embarrassed!   I had been up half the night before on a night watchman job.

A couple of years later, a similar problem occurred at a Bible college. Besides carrying a full-time student load, I worked a part-time job in the afternoon, went to a trade college at night, and did an early morning paper route. I was able to earn a reputation as a classroom sleeper. My best friend knew about my problem and decided to help me out. He walked under the open windows of my second-story classroom and hollered as loud as he could, “Dale, wake up!!” My level of humiliation reached new heights.

There’s a time to sleep and a time to stay awake. The classroom was certainly not the place to sleep. But I did graduate from college – with good grades, too.

Sleeping because of weariness and stress:

Matthew 26:40 relates how Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane,  ” cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, what, could ye not watch with me one hour?”. There had been the Triumphal Entry on Sunday. Then, the cursing of the fig tree and, later, observing the barren cursed fig tree. Jesus had cleansed the temple for the second time. They felt the pressure of the conflict as Jesus challenged the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders. They observed as the chief priests and elders questioned Jesus’ authority. Jesus held them spell-bound as He told the parables of the two sons, the wicked husbandman, the marriage of the King’s Son, answered the Pharisees’ trick question about taxes, the Sadducees’ question about the resurrection, and the lawyer’s question about the two great commandments. They winced as Jesus denounced the hypocrisy and wickedness of the Pharisees and scribes. They felt Jesus’ compassion as He wept over the city of Jerusalem that had rejected Him. They were privileged to listen to Jesus’ discourse on the end times and the coming judgments.

During this tension-filled week, they sensed the hatred of the Jewish leaders and their followers toward Jesus (and indirectly toward them). The large, angry crowds pressed hard physically and vocally against them and their small group of supporters. There had been little physical rest from the stress for Peter, James, and John.

Even though Peter, James, and John were in Jesus’ “inner circle,” they did not understand what would happen. Although Jesus had told them several times, they did not comprehend that the hypocritical Jewish leaders and the angry crowd would soon crucify him.

They fell asleep at the time Jesus needed them the most. 

The stresses of this current time are immense. But we know from the Bible about the events coming after the rapture. Are you rested up spiritually? Are you “prayed up” and ready to pray through the rough times ahead?

Sleeping when we should see the urgency of the times.

 Paul urges us in  Romans 13:11-12 “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. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

Those of us who have always lived in a free, or relatively free, country have a hard time understanding the urgency of the times. But we are beginning to understand. Satan is launching an all-out attack on America and other free countries. Attacks are coming in prohibitions against public prayer, Christian student groups in high schools and colleges, and free speech on campuses and public venues. Since the overthrow of Roe v. Wade, physical and legal attacks have mushroomed against pro-life groups and issues. Leftists attack the family and disregard parents’ rights. LGBTQIA rights surpass heterosexual rights, and pre-marital sex and unwed mothers are commonplace. Violence has exploded nationwide.

There is a poster that I have seen in the last couple of years that aptly describes America today:

“First we overlook evil.
Then we permit evil.
Then we legalize evil.
Then we promote evil.
Then we celebrate evil.
Then we persecute those who still call it evil.”
– – source unknown

It is indeed time to wake out of sleep, cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.

Develop and maintain a close walk with the Lord. Make your allegiance and love to Christ preeminent in your life. Study the Word. Spend much time in prayer. Live different than the world and let your light shine. Be soul conscious. Strive to win souls to Jesus.

May God bless you in these evil, but opportune times. “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries (1 Corinthians 16:9).”