SLEEPING IN THE BOAT

Jonah was running from God, and his unremitting guilt had him in a boat, hiding and sleeping, of all things, in the middle of a life-threatening storm. There is a sleep of escape.

I think that I and many of my friends have slept in a boat this way. Some of us use drugs to keep the conscience numb. Others escape in pornography, in reading novels or watching movies or listening to music. I tend to busy myself with tasks that, on the surface, appear to be good. But when we face ourselves at the end of the day, we know that we've been sleeping in the boat, waiting out the storm, denying our guilt.

Jesus also slept in a boat during a terrible storm. Of course, He was not running from God, but was walking with Him. He had the sleep of peace.

What's the difference between the sleep of Jesus and the sleep of Jonah? It is the difference between amusement and recreation. A-musement means "non-thinking." Re-creation means to "create again." In the case of Jesus, His was the sleep of well-deserved rest when there was an opportunity. We must spend about 1/3 of our lives sleeping, after all.

So, then, whether I eat or drink, or even sleep, I can do it all to the glory of God.

"LORD, let me sleep in You, not away from You. Let me walk in You, not away from You. Let me live and move and have my being, consciously in You, even when I am unconscious. I ask this in the name of Jesus, knowing that Your Holy Spirit is what enables me to do these things. Amen."
-ker