“Hit the sack,” “catch some z’s” and “forty winks” are just a few ways to refer to sleep. Some phrases have origins that may surprise you. Many people believe that telling someone to “sleep tight” recalls a time when beds were supported by ropes, however, back then “tightly” meant “soundly” or “properly.” To “sleep tight” was to sleep well.
There is a decidedly darker origin to the word “nod,” as in “nod off” or go to “the land of nod.” It is tied to Genesis 4 and Cain’s murderous violence against his brother. After exposing his crime, Cain’s sentence was banishment. “When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” (Gen. 4:12). After being sent away from the presence of the Lord, Cain “settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden” (Gen. 4:16). Poets in the 14th century began to refer to the falling of one’s head as “nodding” and going away to a distant land (in sleep) as “the land of nod.”
References to sleep in the Bible vary widely as well. It can be an idol for the slothful. “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” (Prov. 6:10). And “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger” (Prov. 19:15). Yet it is a blessing granted to those who work hard. “Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep” (Ecc. 5:12).
In Matthew 24:42-44 sleep is a euphemism for a failure to be vigilant when it says, “Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Similarly, Jesus was frustrated with his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane when they could not stay awake to pray.
Yet it is in a deep sleep when God acted in significant ways. He put Adam in that state when he took the rib from his side to create Eve. God caused Abraham to enter a deep sleep when He revealed the nature of His covenant with Abraham. The same was done to Daniel multiple times when an interpretation of a vision was given to him.
The point is this—sleep is from God. In fact, like many other gifts, it is frequently taken for granted. If you limit your view of sleep merely to its utility (that it’s required to get on with the rest of life’s responsibility), then you miss an opportunity to enjoy His generosity. Your car serves the utility of getting you from one point to another, but if one were given to you, wouldn’t you think of the giver frequently as you used it? Then be a grateful sleeper!
Do you thank God regularly for the sleep He gives, the physical break from activity and the refreshment it provides? Or do you spend more time complaining about the gift? “I don’t get enough of it,” “my sleep is always restless” or “I have to get up so many times.” All of them, in reality, are complaints against God. He has provided the exact number of hours in the day He wants you to have, and some of them must involve sleep. Enjoy the gift without, on one end, complaining and, on the other, making it an idol.
Try praying that God would help you to be the kind of laborer that earns the pleasure of sweet sleep. Pray that He would prevent you from overvaluing or undervaluing sleep. Pray that He would help you not to fall asleep when you pray. Pray that God would forgive you for past complaints about sleep. Ask for God’s blessing before falling asleep and thank Him when you wake (regardless of the quality). Develop the routine and thankfulness will never be far from your thoughts.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Ps. 4:8)