Sleepless and Godless

Many of us go through our day like a rocket; we blast through our day and never have enough time to slow down. At the end of the day we crash. All of our gadgets and gizmos that are supposed to save us time and make our lives easier end up only quickening our pace and forcing us to squeeze one more thing into an already busy day. Surely I’m not the only one.

Our busy lives and 24/7 culture keeps us busy doing more and more things. One hundred years ago the average American got 9 hours of sleep each night (that means for everyone who only slept 8, someone slept 10). Today we are skimping even more on our sleep averaging only 6 ½ to 7 hours each nigh (an hour less than 20 to 30 years ago).1

So do you go through your day tired? Are you always racing to finish one more project at the end of the day? We are doing more but being less (we are human beings, not human doings). With all of out activity we pile up more and more stuff until we finally don’t have enough room in the house for anything else, so we go out and rent storage space for the overflow.

• [7] Yes, the Day is coming when people will notice The One Who Made Them, take a long hard look at The Holy of Israel. [8] They'll lose interest in all the stuff they've made . . . however impressive it is.
  Isaiah 17:7-8 (MsgB)

You may have notice I left part of the eighth verse out. I did that intentionally because I want us to think about all the stuff we have made and accumulated with all the time we spend doing stuff. Could it be that our ‘stuff’ has become our gods, the Asherah poles and “altars and monuments and rituals” of our “homemade, handmade religion” that Isaiah mentioned?

The day is coming when all our stuff will come to nothing. On that day will we know our Creator? Or will God be a stranger to us because we never took the time to get to know the Lord in our rush to accumulate more stuff?

The Bible says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Isn’t it time that we slow down and stop worrying about all the things that we have accumulated and get acquainted with our Creator, who by the way has invited us to come to Him for rest? Who knows if you take the time to know God you may even have more time to sleep at night. But don’t take my word for it, sleep on it and see what you think. (See Psalm 46:10; Matthew 11:28)

1 http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/sleep-disorders/2005/04/fibromyalgia-eight-hours.htm