Focus: God Never Sleeps!

Text: Isa.51:9

"Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?"

Isaiah is calling on God to wake up. It's really a call to action. The Judean exile is lingering, and there is need for God to act. Isaiah is longing for God's saving action to begin. The arm of YHVH signifies the saving power of God. Isaiah is telling God to repeat or reenact history. He says in essence, 'Show Your people that You are still the same, yesterday, today and forever. Demonstrate Your power and manifest Your glory. Save Your people and free them from their lingering captivity.'

Let's face it: does God sleep? It is written, "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps.121:4). Do we truly think that God is indifferent to the plight of His people? Is He really unconcerned about His people's shackles, or is He to blame for the people's woes?

Isaiah needed to be sure of who truly should wake up and show enough eagerness and willingness. Would it be God or the people of God? Is God in need of waking up or the people themselves? 

To see God in action, God's people must wake up from their own slumber and sleep. The lethargy, apathy and atrophy of God's people are alarming.

Eight verses after, Isaiah declares, "Awake, awake, stand up, O JERUSALEM, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out" (Isa.51:17). And in the next chapter, and verse one, he says again, "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O ZION; put on thy beautiful garments, O JERUSALEM, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean" (Isa.52:1). Now Isaiah is realizing that the waking up is to be done by God's people. They are sleeping and slumbering. They are taking things for granted. They need to wake up to their own reality and know that Babylon is not their homeland. Captivity should not be preferred to freedom.

Something happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. Luke writes, "But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and WHEN THEY WERE AWAKE, they SAW his glory, and the two men that stood with him" (Lk.9:32). The three apostles couldn't see Christ's glory while sleeping, but as soon as they awoke from sleep they saw His glory and the presences of Moses and Elijah. 

The glory of Christ is a constant reality. We see it once we are spiritually awake, and aware of His presence.

Paul says, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Eph.5:14). Christ is ever ready to give us light the moment we wake up from sleep. He is the light of the world and constantly shines, but we can't see it while we are in the state of spiritual slumber. Paul writes, "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed" (Rom.13:11). Paul is saying, 'You can't afford to be sleeping now. 

This time does not call for sleep; it calls for wakefulness and watchfulness. We need to stay awake because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Paul also said, "Awake to righteousness, and sin not…" (1Cor.15:34). These wake up calls are for us, not God. 

God is calling us to wake up to spiritual consciousness, sensitivity and alertness. God's glory is there for us to see. His light still shines for us to see. His salvation is ours to encounter. His righteousness is ours to possess and reflect to others. If we wake up, we will discover that God is not asleep and that He is eager to act on our behalf. God never sleeps.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter