When God Wakes Me Up

I’d venture to say that there have been times in many of our lives when, despite being in that place of deep sleep--the place where I wish I could film my dreams and replay them, God wakes us up in the middle of the night. Although I have been feeling rather sleep deprived this week, God rather forcefully woke me up the other night. I felt the immediate need to pray. I had spent the morning with a student who is pregnant for the fourth time, the previous three pregnancies resulting in miscarriage. At this point in her young life, she wants nothing more than to have a child. She also has dreams of being a successful woman in the future, but this is what is preoccupying her at this time. And it’s a worthy preoccupation--delivering a healthy baby and raising the child well. While that’s all I can write about this particular situation, I am thankful God woke me up to pray for her.

This one event is a greater call to wake up to all of the people in my life, even when I'd rather not. Sometimes when people, primarily children, peer through the car window at a red light, it’s easier to stare straight ahead and pretend that I don’t have anything to offer them than to make eye contact, feel compassion, engage them in conversation, or offer them food. Of course, I know what I ought to do.

I’m reminded of the church in Sardis in Revelation 3, often referred to as the “Dead Church.” In fact, the Lord commands them to “be watchful” or to “wake up.” They are to strengthen what remains; they are to encourage those who are close to death, chiefly the death which is spiritual. But wait. I’m not spiritually dead, so what am I to do? I’m to awaken out of a deep sleep, to strengthen those who need spiritual reawakening, to pray with the conviction of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of me. It is not a casual calling.

To what have we fallen asleep that needs to be awakened within us? Who do we need to strengthen by the power of God that resides within us? I don’t have to look far, and some days I don’t even have to get out of my car. When I do get out, there’s always another person waiting.