He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
– Psalm 121:3-4
Slumber. There is such a peaceful, calm essence in this word. Images of mattress commercials come to mind, with white, fluffy cartoon sheep helping me off into a world of pleasant dreams. Slumber is something that we all appreciate. We are thankful when it happens, perhaps a bit grumpy when it doesn’t. Every evening I am thankful for the possibility of leaving the waking world and spending quality hours in the realm of my unconsciousness.
I would contend, though not at all strenuously, that there is a price to pay for slumber. It comes by virtue of what slumber is, and without argument it is a price worth paying. It is simply that, when I slumber, I miss things. When I arose from slumber on the morning of this writing, it was obvious that rain had come during the night. I missed it. Rainfall didn’t wake me from my slumber. That alone doesn’t worry me at all, but the point is that it happened without my awareness. I only saw the evidence of it after the event. Had it been something of concern, I would have been helpless to the consequences, given the fact that I was slumbering.
We accept this as a normal part of life. Sometimes we are awake, sometimes asleep. Sometimes things awaken us from sleep, sometimes not. The meaningful truth conveyed by the writer of Psalm 121 is this: Yahweh doesn’t slumber. His level of awareness doesn’t fluctuate like ours. In a rather comical contest with the prophets of Baal, Elijah accused their gods of slumbering. For hours the prophets were calling on Baal to answer. Elijah mocked them, saying, “Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened” (1 Kings 18:27). It would be sad to have a god whom you must awaken so he can heed your call. Elijah knew the Living God, the Creator, and knew that He was not asleep.
As we regularly do, let’s bring this around to Jesus. He slept, didn’t he? In fact, wasn’t there a time when the disciples had to awaken him in a time of urgent need? You know there was. We read about it in Matthew 8 and Mark 4. They were on the Sea of Galilee when a fierce storm arose. The fearful disciples awakened Jesus: “Lord, don’t you care that we are perishing?” Do you think he cared? Certainly he did. He got up, spoke to his own creation, and the storm ceased. Now observe this. His next comment was not, “Wow, we are really lucky that you guys woke me!” Instead he corrected the disciples (gently, I think), asking why they did not have more faith. Faith in what? Faith that the Heavenly Father was not asleep, that He cares and observes without interruption. There is never a moment when, or a place where, our Father is not watching and caring.
As followers of Jesus we learn from his teaching and from his life. He taught us not to worry (see Matthew 6:25ff.) because God is aware of our needs. In the boat with the disciples, he was able to rest in the knowledge that his Father was on the case, something that his friends had forgotten in the moment. The psalmist agrees. God will not “allow your foot to be moved” on your life journey. We can be sure of this because God will not be caught sleeping. Each of your waking AND slumbering moments are under the careful watch of your loving Heavenly Father, who will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever (Ps. 121:8).
Tonight, as you prepare to receive your rest, let your heart find peace in knowing that your Heavenly Father does not slumber. Because He doesn’t, you can.
The Winding Path 