Why is it that people pray and tell God to wake up? Does it mean that God slumbers?
I assume you got your question after reading verses such as Psalms 7:6, “Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and AWAKE FOR ME to the judgment that thou hast commanded.” Or possibly Psalms 44:23 which says, “Awake, WHY SLEEPEST THOU, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.”
Let’s first establish the fact that the Lord DOES NOT sleep. Psalms 121:4 tells us, “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP.” In this instance, to ‘slumber’ would indicate a short sleeping period, or a nap. To ‘sleep’ means to lie down and doze. Oftentimes, it is our slumber that leads us into a longer and deeper rest…the ‘sleep.’ The Lord does neither. He is always awake and alert to give attention to all our prayers, no matter when it is that we pray.
How are we to understand this ‘seeming contradiction?” Even in our day and time, our vernacular is the same as that used in Psalms 7:6, which says, “Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and AWAKE FOR ME to the judgment that thou hast commanded.” “AWAKE FOR ME” is a call from David to the Lord when he felt the Lord was not answering his prayers. He felt abandoned. Obviously he FELT as if the Lord had fallen asleep and abandoned Him. Such is the call we have before us. It is a plea to the Lord to help and not to ignore the cries of His suffering people.
Psalms 44:23 says, “Awake, WHY SLEEPEST THOU, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.” Again, this portion concerns the feelings of being abandoned of God and so, calling out to Him to awake. Neither one of these verses (or others of like wording) can be taken literally. We have to see that it is speaking AS IF the Lord was asleep, but certainly He was not. Often, we become disheartened too quickly when the Lord does not respond to our prayers immediately. We read in Luke 18:1, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, AND NOT TO FAINT.” This is teaching us that we need to continue in our prayers and not faint (give up) if our prayers and not answered quickly and in the way we asked the Lord. The Lord is awake. He hears our prayers and He will answer in His perfect time and according to His perfect will. (258.4)