Mark Earley posted a great article at breakpoint.org about the caffeine dependency that seems to be rampant across our busy country. I must confess to occasional guilt in this area. For the most part, I’ve been unaddicted to coffee/pop for the last four months (after a year or so of 3+ cups a day). But I’m about to start PhD classes. And I’ve got a lot of work on a correspondence course that I need to finish this month. So I might have to stay up late a couple times (probably a couple all-nighters during the school year too) to get all my work squeezed into a week. I freely confess, I think that energy drinks are great for late-night study (the warmth of coffee counteracts its caffeine for me, and I do enjoy pop). I typically cut the energy drink with Gatorade to spread out the dosage. But addiction? Thankfully, no. Last year, I experienced the headaches when I didn’t have my morning coffee and I’m not going back to that!
Earley points out a better solution to sleep-deprivation than coffee:
“God built rest into the very rhythm of creation. Keeping a day of rest made His top-10 list. And believe it or not, rest serves a purpose—a divine purpose. It reminds us that God is in control. What happens when you cannot finish everything that you think you need to get done and your body is telling you, ‘you have to go to sleep’? You are thrown into a situation in which you must depend on God.”
As I pillow my head at night (whether at 11pm or 1am), I thank the Lord for sleep and remind myself that I depend on him and that my strength is finite (as often as I stay awake long enough to do so!). I also reserve my Lord’s Day afternoon for rest time. Napping is not something I have time to do during the week; it is, however, essential if I’m going to profit from the evening service! God is good to give us rest – we depend on him and his perfections shine when we acknowledge our limitations!
“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for [God] gives to his beloved sleep.” ~ Ps. 127.2
HT: Challies