By Abijohn.com
They told us God invented sleep so we could rest. Hmmm. Maybe.
But what if God invented sleep not for rest — but for restraint?
A divine timeout, so humans could stop eating, stop scheming, stop hustling for a few hours, and finally fast from feeding off others.
See, the day belongs to appetite. We feed on food, gossip, attention, Wi-Fi, likes, and love. But at night, when sleep sneaks in like a quiet priest, we are forced into fasting. We are denied the buffet of human chaos. Science, that cautious cousin of mystery, calls this autophagy — the body feeding on itself to renew, recycle, repair. Spiritually, it’s the universe’s polite way of saying:
“Stop eating others. Try eating yourself for once.”
When we sleep, we become monks in our own temples. No wars. No tweets. No hunger for validation. Just quiet repair. The body becomes its own chef, surgeon, and psychiatrist. Every cell becomes a little monk, meditating on renewal.
And have you noticed? When man sleeps, he learns to leap without jumping.
He learns to fly in his dreams without buying a ticket.
He becomes God’s child again — weightless, timeless, borderless.
They say the only true constant is change. I believe the other one is sleep. Because, statistically, 100% of the time, someone on this planet is asleep. Every second, on every time zone, a dream begins somewhere and ends somewhere else. Sleep is humanity’s only synchronized prayer. The world never stops snoring.
They also say a hungry man is an angry man. But when we sleep, hunger is silent. We are full — not of food, but of ourselves. The stomach stops growling, the ego stops shouting, and anger takes a nap it truly deserves.
And then there’s death. The great Sleep with no alarm clock. The permanent fast. The final dream.
In death, the body obeys the same logic of sleep — it stops feeding off the world.
It turns inward, into quiet dust.
We call it Rest in Peace, but perhaps it’s Rest in Process — the final act of cellular surrender.
So yes, maybe God invented sleep not because He was tired, but because we were exhausting ourselves.
Sleep was His last mercy — His invisible Sabbath hidden inside our biology.
Every night, He whispers:
“Lie down. Stop fighting Me. Stop feeding off the world. Eat from your own soul.”
And every morning, if we wake up, it means our fast is over —
and God has granted us another meal of daylight.
Jesus Wept but Jesus also Slept !
— Abijohn.com
0 Bible Verses on Sleep and Fasting
🕊️ A. On Sleep, Rest, and God’s Protection (Sleep as Peace)
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Psalm 4:8 — “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”
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Proverbs 3:24 — “When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.”
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Psalm 127:2 — “He grants sleep to those he loves.”
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Psalm 3:5 — “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.”
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Job 11:18-19 — “You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.”
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Ecclesiastes 5:12 — “The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.”
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Jeremiah 31:26 — “At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.”
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Mark 4:38 — “Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’”
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Matthew 8:24 — “Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.”
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Psalm 91:5 — “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day.”
🌙 B. On Rest as Renewal (Spiritual and Physical Regeneration)
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Exodus 33:14 — “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
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Matthew 11:28 — “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
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Hebrews 4:9-10 — “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.”
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Isaiah 26:3 — “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”
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Psalm 37:7 — “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”
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Isaiah 30:15 — “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”
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Psalm 116:7 — “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.”
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Psalm 62:1 — “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.”
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Lamentations 3:22–23 — “His mercies are new every morning.”
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Genesis 2:2–3 — “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.”
🌑 C. On Sleep as Symbol of Death and Awakening
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Daniel 12:2 — “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake.”
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John 11:11–14 — “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
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1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 — “We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death.”
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Acts 7:60 — “When he had said this, he fell asleep.”
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1 Corinthians 15:51 — “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.”
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Matthew 9:24 — “The girl is not dead but asleep.”
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Psalm 13:3 — “Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death.”
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Job 14:12 — “So he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake.”
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Deuteronomy 31:16 — “You are going to rest with your ancestors.”
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1 Kings 2:10 — “Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried.”
🌾 D. On Fasting as Spiritual Cleansing and Renewal
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Matthew 6:16–18 — “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do… your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
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Joel 2:12 — “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
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Ezra 8:23 — “So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”
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Nehemiah 1:4 — “I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”
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Isaiah 58:6 — “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice?”
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Psalm 69:10 — “I humbled myself with fasting.”
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Daniel 9:3 — “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”
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Jonah 3:5 — “The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed.”
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Esther 4:16 — “Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.”
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Acts 13:2–3 — “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said…”
🔥 E. On Fasting as Power and Discipline
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Matthew 17:21 — “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
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Luke 4:2 — “For forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days.”
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Acts 14:23 — “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders… with prayer and fasting.”
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1 Corinthians 9:27 — “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection.”
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Isaiah 58:8 — “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear.”
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Joel 1:14 — “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly.”
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Luke 2:37 — “She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.”
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2 Samuel 12:16 — “David fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.”
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Matthew 9:15 — “The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
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Philippians 4:13 — “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (A reminder that true fasting is empowered by grace.)