SOMNOLENCE

Somnolence: “A mental disorder characterized by drowsiness, weariness, or excessive sleepiness.” ​

We are born sinners (Rom. 5:12-14). We live in a cursed world of hardship and difficulty. The thorns and thistles of life make sinners sorrowful and weighed down, but most people just try to ignore it (Gen. 3:17-19, Ps. 107:12). People try to stay positive and make the best of things! Meanwhile, God is trying to get everyone’s attention. Divine providence has caused this message to fall into your hands for a reason. You need God’s help! A divine finger is pointing at all the problems on earth so that you might seek heaven for answers. 

Sin is an inconvenient leech upon your life that you cannot ignore! Do you feel it? I’m speaking about all the “evil” (Eccl. 2:21), “grief” (Eccl. 1:18, 2:17, 23), “vexation” (Eccl. 1:14, 17, 2:17, 22, 26), “travail” (Eccl. 1:13, 2:23, 26), “sorrow” (Eccl. 1:18, 2:23), “despair” (Eccl. 2:20), dissatisfaction (Eccl. 1:8), and restlessness of sinners in a fallen world (Eccl. 2:23). How do you cope with it? Honestly, for most people, the daily grind isn’t making them feel alive, awake, alert, and energized. 

“All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” – Eccl. 1:8

Many people feel that the daily workweek is a prison of meaningless repetition. They feel worn out and fatigued in both body and soul. They want to do something else! They want to be someone else! They feel trapped in their present circumstances and can’t foresee any way out for many years to come. 

“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” - Ecclesiastes 1:2

“What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” – Eccl. 1:3

“What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?” – Eccl. 3:9

Pleasure seekers and dreamers feel the vanity of life in the obligation to work. The grumbling of dissatisfied workers comes from deep within! The inaudible complaining is constant! The people feel that they can’t go anywhere or do anything that they want to do. Therefore, a dark cloud of melancholy hangs over the soul. The Bible teaches that melancholy and worldly sorrow can have an intoxicating effect of tiredness, weariness, and sleepiness (Lk. 22:45, Jonah 1:5-6). 

“And when He…was come to His disciples, He found them sleeping for sorrow, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” - Luke 22:45-46

People try to escape the confines of their own reality by television and movies. There is little thought about turning to God in prayer because nobody is telling them that they have a sin problem. Meanwhile, the thrill of fiction and fantasy allows for a semblance of freedom to live a different life. Living rooms are furnished with couches and recliners to indulge in the mad indifference of idle entertainment. Feeling no real purpose in life, or the power to do anything about it, people become slothful, sluggish, and lazy. 

“Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.” – Prov. 19:15

“The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.” – Prov. 26:15-16

The sin of slothfulness brings the body under a spell of sleepiness. For one reason or another, it is common for people to come to hate life itself (often because of the hardships that accompany work), so when they get off work they resort to the same private getaway at home in the Living Room. 

“Therefore I hated life because the work…” – Eccl. 2:17

“Yea, I hated all my labour…” – Eccl. 2:18 

What is life? Mostly, it is a bunch of eating, sleeping, and going to work! When people get off work, they come home and sluggishly expire the evening in the Living Room. Some people call it rest and relaxation, but if they were honest, they would admit that they are tired and hurting on the inside. They mourn the fact that they have to wake up tomorrow and do the same thing all over again! Considering the circumstances, if the scenery in the Living Room is one that invites slothfulness, the people are probably going to come under a spell of sleepiness. Lost souls are void of real purpose and feel enslaved to the workweek; therefore, they are plagued with slothfulness, sluggishness, and sleepiness. 

“Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.” – Prov. 6:4

“How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:” – Prov. 6:9-10

Eventually, many people come to feel that they have nothing better to do than relax. They indulge in sleep!  They take a vacation! Modern enthusiasts tell them that they owe it to themselves. Nevertheless, one way or another, somehow, they begin to feel tired all the time. Tired and drowsy sinners pay a visit to the Doctor and are immediately prescribed antidepressants or benzodiazepines depending on the circumstances. They leave having come to believe that they have a chemical problem. Now these people will not let anyone tell them that they have a sin problem! This is how the souls of sinners sink deeper into the mire. People are coming under the power of mind-altering drugs for a lifetime of addiction! Meanwhile, those who are getting saved from sin are experiencing an awakening of heavenly power in a real encounter with the person of Jesus Christ. 

“Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee Light.” – Eph. 5:14

Reconciliation to God is a miraculous experience of spiritual regeneration. Everything is made new (2 Cor. 5:17)! Credit should be given to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:1-7). The empty tomb is a good testimony. There is power in the Gospel! The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead can get any sinner out of bed and on his feet - feeling good: alert, alive, focused, energized, sober, meditative, watchful, circumspect, & resolved (Ps. 57:8, 63:6). Can you relate? “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” (1 Thess. 5:6). When your eyes are clear and your priorities are heavenly, then staying awake, energized, and alert isn’t a problem (Matt. 6:19-24, Ps. 132:3-5). Meanwhile, the souls of condemned sinners are haunted by a phantom ghost of sleepiness that seems inescapable (Isa. 29:10, Rom. 11:8).