When God wakes you up.
The room is still dark. A few cars can be heard in the distance. People off to work, to school, to the gym…early risers.
I’ve always marveled at them. How? How do they pull themselves out of their nice warm bed, all piled high with coziness and step into the world of cool air and responsibility?
I open one eye, squint at the clock…unconsciously holding my breath. Willing it to show a time that will allow me to sleep another five hours.
Sometimes this is the case and I cheer silently and roll over.
Other times, I’ve awoken only minutes before the alarm is set to intrude, rudely, upon my sweet dreams.
There is another waking up though. One that is beyond my control. One that is not done with an alarm clock. Not a rooster crowing off in the distance. Not a mother shaking you awake. Arise and shine that is harder to ignore.
What do you do when God wakes you up?
There are times, when I am lying in bed, peacefully asleep one second and perfectly awake the next. I’m not sure what woke me. I didn’t hear a strange sound. I didn’t need to go to the washroom. I just woke up and am wide awake.
I can choose to roll over. Sometimes I do. Try and fall back to sleep, but I usually end up tossing and turning for a half hour. The end result is me getting up anyway.
Or I can choose to get up and figure out why I was supposed to.
Do you believe that God can wake us up?
I realize that is a metaphorical as well as literal, question. He does shake us…wake us. In our lives and careers and churches. I’ve seen it. I’ve experienced it. He wakes us up to what’s going on around us. Stirs us to see what we can do to help others.
What I’m asking is…do you think God can physically, “ wake us up?”
I do.
God does not sleep. He doesn’t need sleep like you or I. He is always awake and alert.
“I look up to the mountains-does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!
He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.
The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.” Psalms 121
So…God is always awake. His time is different from our time. But does He, from time to time, wake us from our from our slumber?
I believe He does. For different purposes.
One could be for us to pray. Ever wake up and suddenly have someone pop into your mind? They stay there…on and off for a few days in a row? There’s no reason for them to be on your mind. You didn’t just run into them or call them or even see them anywhere…but yet…there they are…big as life…running all over your thoughts.
This could be the prompting of God to pray for them. Reach out. Shoot a text. Pick up the phone and use it for its original intent…call! Send a note. We need each other. We are made to be together.
Anytime I’ve had someone on my brain…and I’ve felt that little niggling to reach out…and I actually followed through…that person has responded with thankfulness. My note, my call, my text…came at the just the right time. It was just the encouragement they needed.
God might wake us up to counsel us. He shows us things we need to know when we are not busy doing something else. When we are slowed. When we are focused. When we take time to ask Him for wisdom before we are in the thick of it.
“The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.” Isaiah 50:4
God also might wake us because He misses us. Say what? God misses us? We were created to be friends with Him. He wants to talk to us. To help us. To walk our lives with us. We might really want this too…but life is busy! We have stuff to do! Important stuff! It’s not that we think God is not important…it’s just that this other stuff pays the bills and keeps our family fed and functioning. God understands. We’ll get to Him…when things slow down…when life is quieter. When there’s not so much going on.
Yeah…like at 3:30 in the morning. When all is quiet. Calm and slowed. He will wake us up and meet us here. Here we can come to Him with concerns. Here we can deep sigh. Here we can just sit and listen to His steady breathing. Here we can let it go…cry…raise our hands…whisper thanks. Visit.
“Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to him in prayer…” Lamentations 2:19
When God wakes you up. Don’t discard it. Don’t roll over. Don’t pull the covers up over your head. He wants you up for a reason. Get up. Ask Him why He woke and listen to what He has to say.
Maybe He’ll say…Pray.
Maybe He’ll say…I need you to know this.
Maybe He’ll say… I miss you.
Or maybe you’ll hear Him say something else. Rest assured, losing that precious hour of sleep will be well worth it.
P.S.- Dear Sleep, I’m sorry we broke up this morning. I want you back!
P.P.S- I finally got 8 hours of sleep. It took me four days, but whatever. :)
