“God gives sleep as an expression of his love. As much as it may seem like a horrible inconvenience and a waste of time to those toiling under the sway of a productivity idol—eight hours lost every day!—sleep is a divine gift.
Life has its ups and downs, no doubt. For everything there is a season—a day to rise early, a day to go to bed late—but God did not design us to burn the candle at both ends. He doesn’t mean for us to always be “on,” to always feel productive. He does mean for us to recognize the glorious constraints of creatureliness, embrace the limits of our humanity, and own the humility of coming to the end of ourselves every day—lying down, closing our eyes, and leaving not just the whole world, but also our own worlds, to him.
Bedtime rehearses the fact that he is God, and I am not. Every night is an opportunity to “be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).”
- David Mathis, Rich Wounds: The Countless Treasures of the Life, Death, and Triumph of Jesus (The Good Book Company, 2022), 32-33.
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