HEBREW WORD STUDY  – SLEEP –  YASHAN  ישׁנ  

Psalms 121:4: “Behold, he that keepth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.”

King Solomon had twenty armed guards, the elite, the best of the best warriors guarding his bed chamber every night.  President Trump has guards at every gate of the White House, a full detail of Secret Service agents in uniform and plain clothes swarming the White House.  Every inch of the White House is on camera being watched by an agent. Aircraft and a rapid response team are  on ready to respond to the slightest threat.  Yet, you and I have a security greater than all that, we have the God of the Universe keeping watch over us. He is a body guard who does not slumber or sleeps. He is on duty every moment of each day 24/7.  Our divine Body Guard does not slumber and he also does not sleep.  He is the perfect 24 hour body guard.   No bed time, no lunch breaks, nor toilet breaks.  .  

He never slumbers nor sleeps.  The word sleep in Hebrew is yashan.  It means to sleep, but is can also mean to grow old.  God will never grow old.  We can’t outlive God.  He is there with us never growing too old or feeble to help us or encourage us. In my disability bus I drove a mother and her adult disabled son to the doctor the other day.   I could not help but think that this mother will soon be too old and too feeble to care for her disabled son.  But we have a caregiver who will never grow too old or feeble.

Slumber in the Hebrew is  num which means a half sleep that is to get drowsy or have a tendency to doze off. Many auto accidents occur not because the driver fell asleep but because he was drowsy and was not paying attention.  God has His full attention on us night and day, He will not sleep nor will His attention be diverted by drowsiness. 

We have God’s full attention 24/7 for our entire lives.