How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 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 (Proverbs 6:9-11 ESV).
Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare (Proverbs 20:13 ESV).
Sleeping Hours
The above Scriptures are directly speaking to the lazy and those who love sleeping. This is a habit many of us practice daily. This seems to be a very innocent sin, but the Lord does charge people to wake up!
Medically, it is recommended that an average adult may sleep seven to nine hours daily. Also, we know there are no known Bible verses that prescribes how long we should sleep. However, the current recommended sleeping hours is reasonable and well accepted everywhere. Therefore, for the benefit of the article, we will limit ourselves to the recommended hours.
There are side effects to when we sleep too much. For example, it has been found that too much sleep leads to heart problems and diabetes. Spiritually, this is as much a problem as it results in sicknesses physically. We have dealt with many demons that cause people to slumber and sleep during a preaching or deliverance session. Therefore, demons use such occasions to induce a temporary sleep while some demons have full possession of people who are habitual sleepers, that is those who sleep longer than the recommended hours. We are not referring to the occasional late sleeping over off days; we refer instead to habitual sleepers who clock 12 hours plus daily.
Furthermore, like the above Scriptures state, it is always the lazy people who sleep more hours because that gives them less hours for any bodily activity. Equally, there are people who are medically required to sleep long hours, and we exclude them from our subject. Our study concentrates on those who are lazy and those who are in the habit of late sleeping.
Unacceptable Sleeping Hours
Remember, if we have a daily routine that we follow, like work or some other activity, we make room for enough physical rest before we return to that activity. We are careful not to just sit around and interfere with our resting time unless there is something of importance we have to attend to, and only under such circumstances would we consider sacrificing our resting times (Acts 20:7-9).
Moreover, It is a widely accepted practice in society and in the workplace that late sleeping does not compensate, and morally it is unacceptable. The result of too much sleep is poverty and laziness (Proverbs 20:13; 6:9-11). When we are lazy we impact others and disobey God's command of work (2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Genesis 3:23). Therefore the lazy love sleeping, eating and getting free things.
I know many people whose parents allowed them to sleep and sleep, and consequently spoiling them into laziness. These sleepers are demanding and expect everybody to have sympathy on them because they have poverty as a friend (Proverbs 6:11). In addition, I also personally know some people who quit their jobs because they cannot get up so early to go and work. While others only work during summertime and not winter seasons. I recently had a conversation with a man who told me that his son, who fathered about three children, refuses to work during winter because it's too cold. He continued to tell me that this brat, his son, always has his mother's sympathy. Sadly, this mother, like many parents out there, are overcome by pity for their children, while allowing them to feed on their habit, which would later come back to haunt them. How? Well, they will be dependent on their parents for life. Shame is what you would have prepared for yourself by allowing them to feed on their shameful habit (Proverbs 13:18).
Overcoming Bad Sleeping Habits
Words of advice for those who suffer from insomnia: don’t go to the television or Internet, unless it is to build you up in Christ Jesus. Neither go to sleeping drugs; this too leads to addictions. I have been there before, and my solution against sleeplessness came through Bible reading and prayers at night.
I have had my own struggles with sleeping habits. When I grew up, I hated waking up early, but I had parents and guardians who would not allow me that luxury of late sleeping. However, when I went to live as a boarder at school away from home, the people I lived with allowed me to sleep late and they prepared basically everything for me, like my bath water and breakfast. So, I fed on my sleeping habit, which at times led to me oversleep, which in return led to shortcuts; you know what I mean. After I left boarding school, the sleeping habit was well entrenched in me. This gave me troubles when I got my first job, and especially when I lived on my own. I would be late for work, not once or twice, but actually quite regularly per week. This led to greater problem: absenteeism, resulting in lies, lies, and lies, which ultimately led me to lose my appetite for work and the end poverty, as I was unable to pay my monthly rent.
However, after I met Christ He became the light in me and that led me to arise early for prayer and also to have a sense of decency and respect for others, by honouring the agreements I committed myself to, and the result being peace and adequate supply of my needs (Proverbs 10:3-5; Philippians 4:13). Like I wrote in the Being on Time article, the Lord has set morning prayer times for our children and He also set proper wake up times for them which is the recommended times we cited earlier.
In conclusion, let us keep alert on our sleeping habits. When we have nothing to do during the day we naturally want to sleep; this will result in a bad habit. Rather, find something to do: take a walk, read, pray, witness, or listen to gospel music while worshipping the Lord. We live for Him, so our lives ought to be centered around Him (Colossians 3:1).
Be blessedly awakened in Christ,
Brother Glenn.
