HOW THINGS GET LOST (2) – SLEEP

During my days at the university, I lost two phones. The first time was so dramatic. I had taken a cab from Ibadan to Ife. Somewhere along the way, I dozed off. I woke up just as the cab got to the campus gate. I got down from the cab and crossed over to the other side. As if my brain woke up, I remembered that I had a phone on me. It must have slipped into the cab. I tracked the cab. I found it, but there was no more phone. The driver suspected the young man sitting beside me must have stolen it. Truly, sleep opened the door. 

The second time happened right in the University Hostel.  I was taking an afternoon nap. The only roommate around went out without waking me up or locking our door. By the time I woke up, my phone was nowhere to be found. 

Truly, sleep is a blessing, and the Lord gives his beloved sleep. But sleep time is also the window that the enemy has learnt to utilize for his operations. Jesus warned about it clearly in the parable of the wheat and tares: 

Matthew 13:24-25 NKJV

[24] Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; [25] but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 

Here, all the enemy did was to add things. He did not uproot the wheat. He only added tares. 

A believer must stay awake and alert. A sleeping believer can be overcome by lust. Parents sleep while their children are young but wake up suddenly when they are teenagers. By then, what the enemy sowed had matured into full rebellion. 

The music of these days is putting many believers to sleep. Strange entertainment has numbed our souls. Sensuality is normal before marriage. Nudity is normal now. While men slept, the enemy sowed seeds. 

Do you remember the two prostitutes during the days of Solomon? One slept on her baby, and the other slept so much that they exchanged her living baby for a dead one, and she was unaware till morning.  

The operation of the enemy here was a strange exchange. There are people who are carrying things that are not theirs. Some are feeding dead things. Only light can expose what the enemy has done. 

One of the ways to wake up sleepers is to pull the blinds so the bright light of day can shine on them. Hear Paul: 

Romans 13:11-14 MSG

[11-14] But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Wake up!