Summer Vacation: Sleeping In Series

Text: "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him." Psalm 62.1

Is there anything that excites a teenager more than sleeping in? When I discuss with students about their summer usually highlight of the time is, SLEEP. Sleeping away and catching up on what they have missing all school year. It often becomes a contest, who can sleep later? Here is some interesting information:

Teenage children, when given 8 hours of sleep per night fell asleep in less than 10 minutes on all naps! When teenagers were allowed only 6 hours of sleep a night (the average teenager gets about 6 to 7 hours of sleep per night), they fell asleep in less than 2 minutes during the daytime on all naps! Thus, teenagers with a full 8 hours of sleep per night demonstrate significant sleepiness in the daytime. Teenagers allowed only 6 hours of sleep per night demonstrated severe sleepiness; in fact teenagers given 6 hours of sleep a night were as sleepy as untreated patients with narcolepsy, a disease characterized by severe sleepiness requiring multiple naps and stimulant medications to treat. This level of sleepiness is associated with severe dysfunction in the daytime which includes falling asleep during boring activities (attending classes, sitting and reading, driving) and difficulty with memory retention. However, when these same teenagers were required to sleep 10 hours per night, they did not fall asleep during the daytime naps.

It is known that teens love to hang out and have fun, and in the summer time you can do it because you will sleep in. But let’s view this idea of sleeping in spiritually. You sleep because you need rest. Spiritually the same thing is true. The great enemy of our relationship with God is overworking, busyness, spending too much time on things that really don’t matter. God wants us and requires us to get spiritual rest.

The word "rest" in psalm 62 has hidden in it, 3 attitudes, and I am confident that if we submit to the attitude of rest, we will enhance our walk with God.

Remember that Lord is taking you somewhere this summer, Where are you going? How are you going to get there? Take time to rest on the journey. It will allow you to get there quicker and safer.

1. Attitude of Silence(mentally): "But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me." Psalm 131.2

A Wise old owl sat in an oak, The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?

it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord . Lam 3.26

There is a time and a season for one to walk in silence. God wants to remove the noise of your life and create a place in which he can speak to you and encourage you. If you are constantly on the go physically you will wear out, no difference spiritually. Take time, have a personal retreat at the lake with some worship music, bible, notepad and listen for the Lord. It is difficult. But Jesus secluded himself from the distractions and noises of his day so that he could spend some effective time with God the Father.

"Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Mark 6.31

Do not be a generation that fails to hear what God is saying, but can quote other songs, other things from memory.

Do you remember last week when I said, You need to be mentally prepared for the distractions that will come against you.

Ecc. 3.1, "There is a time for everything."

When do we dream, naturally? When we are asleep. When do we dream spiritually? When we are resting before God. There is a warfare in the mind, to slow down and be quiet before God.

2. Attitude of Soundness (spiritually): "Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up." Proverbs 12.25 (NLT)

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Phil. 4.6

God not only wants you to rest mentally, but he wants us to rest spiritually. Worry will drain us of the life that God is breathing into us. Do you see what Phil. 4.6 really says? "Don’t worry about anything…." That is easy for God to say right. But really we do not need to worry about anything.

To rest in God means that I will rest from the attitude of worry, and develop an attitude of faith and rest. I will not let worry control my mind or my spirit.