"Behold, he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps"

Ever since sunday school, I have been taught that God does not sleep. Well now I know that that is not true. It is either he aint there at all or he does sleep sometimes and it is in these periods of his inertia that the devil or whoever is on the other side of the cosmic divide wreaks his havoc on the sons of men.

My belief stems from the fact that if indeed he is always alert, then tragedies wont befall his own people, or isnt it said that "he protects the righteous (i.e his people) and none of his bones are broken" Imagine christian people coming from a christian camp having an accident and losing their lives. I know you might say "happens all the time" and thats my point exactly.

So how is it that he neither slumbers nor sleeps, but blinks every once in a while and allows those who serve him to suffer

which God are you alluding to?

Whichever God is claiming to be God

no no no no
it should be the one you are claiming to be God. there are a lot of version of God e.g. Allah, Olodumare Yahweh, Jehovah, Chi, Mawu, El etc

Okay since you want specifics, I am talking bout the God we were taught about in sunday school and the same that all our fancy pastors these days speak so adoringly about.

Which one do you front for

I dont do Yahweh, Allah, Jehovah,El,  I only subscribe to Olodumare

No, Jehovah Elshaddai, Elyon, Shallom, Jireh, is never asleep. If anything, you must have been the one snorring or your brain decided to go on strike for one minute - when you woke up, you discovered many things had passed and then tried to blame it on God. God does not sleep my brada!

I have being a daily guest of Nairaland for a long while now, and I have read a number of disscussions and none has moved me to the point of registering to drop a point but this one.

The GOd I worship is the 'I AM THAT I AM' he nevers sleeps nor slumber.

The bible says in the presence of God there is fulness of joy, so if you don't experience joy in your life that means God is not present in your life/situation.

Below is a story that explains it all!


[b]Did God create everything? THIS IS GOOD!!!!!

You'll love this student's retort to his atheistic
professor. Wonderful & useful logic when witnessing to
nonbelievers.

A University professor at a well known institution of
higher learning challenged his students with this
question. "Did God create everything that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything; then
God cr e ated evil. And, since evil exists, & according to
the principle that our works define who we are, then we
can assume God is evil."

The student became quiet & did not respond to the
professor's hypothetical definition. The professor,
quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that
he had proven once more that the religious faith was a
myth.

Another student raised his hand & said, "May I ask you a
question, professor?"

"Of course," replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold
exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists.
Have you ne ver been cold?"

The other students snickered at the young man's question.
The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not
exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider
cold is in reality the absence of heat. Everybody or
object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits
energy, & heat is what makes a body or matter have or
transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460F) is the total
absence of heat; & all matter becomes inert & incapable
of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We
have created this word to describe how we feel if we have
no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied , "Once again you are wrong sir,
darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality
the absence of light. Light we can study, but not
darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break
white light into many colou rs & study the various wave
lengths of each colour. You cannot measure darkness. A
simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness &
illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space
is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this
correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what
happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does
evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I
have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the
daily examples of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the
multitude of crime & violence everywhere in the world.
These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir,
or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply
the absence of God. It is just like darkness & cold, a
word that man has created to describe the absence of God.
God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what
happens wh en man does not have God's love present in his
heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no
heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.
The young man's name--Albert Einstein A true story.[/b]

@ iyeyemi

U have to understand that the ways of God are and would certainly not be the ways of man. If the very God that is contained in the sripture as The Boundless Creator whose existence cannot be humanly comprehended is that which you are refering to, then u hav got urself all mixed up.

First, u need to have a thorough understanding of destiny, the concept of pre-determined free will and God's position regarding destiny.

@WWJD

Good One there.
@topic
Who so question is maker is in great trouble

@ Yusufi
Predetermined Freewill? Your god is definitely the god of oxymorons.

God never sleeps nor slumber, but sometimes he allows you to be tested, to know what you are made off, humans in da hands of God is like a seed, that has been planted, and for the seed to germinate, we have to be in contact with the soil and the outer part of the seed has to be destroyed to bring out the fullk potential of the seed, so that is just what is going on, God wanna do great things for us and wanna make us the best people of his, but he has to reshape you and me, he has to bring out da best in me and you, and trust me, reshaping is not easy, so pls, dont think that God is sleeping, he is not sleeping at all, he is looking at you, and infact, sometimes, we are the one that is not giving him the opportunity to help us, cos God's hands are not short to deliver us, but sometimes, He is waiting and screaming for you to invite Him, cos he has given us free will.
He will come true for you.
Your problem is God's opportunity to demostrate His power, and i so much blv that soon, he will trun your mourning into dancing

$$Rhino:

God never sleeps nor slumber, but sometimes he allows you to be tested, to know what you are made off, humans in da hands of God is like a seed, that has been planted, and for the seed to germinate, we have to be in contact with the soil and the outer part of the seed has to be destroyed to bring out the fullk potential of the seed, so that is just what is going on, God want to do great things for us and want to make us the best people of his, but he has to reshape you and me, he has to bring out da best in me and you, and trust me, reshaping is not easy, so please, don't think that God is sleeping, he is not sleeping at all, he is looking at you, and infact, sometimes, we are the one that is not giving him the opportunity to help us, because God's hands are not short to deliver us, but sometimes, He is waiting and screaming for you to invite Him, because he has given us free will.
He will come true for you.
Your problem is God's opportunity to demostrate His power, and i so much blv that soon, he will trun your mourning into dancing

serious side of $$Rhino, thumbs up for you bro

offcourse God is not sleeping cos he is not like who told u dat reshapening for God is not easy,please nothing is not easy for God other gods u know

jayvin, that means i can be serious sometimes now, lol

uwagbae, i never said anything is hard for God, all i am saying is that, you as human wont find it easy when God is reshapening you, it is like a dislocated joint that has to be snapped back into shape, the process is painful, but the end of it is peace of mind

True story - A devout christian, humble as a doormat, kind to an irritating fault, always ready to help, loses her husband in the twinkling of eye. She gets up and tries to dust herself off and live on for her kids. Exactly a year later, on her way back from a christian youth camp, on a fine sunday morning, her bus spins out of control, has an accident and after its over, her last daughter lies dead in her arms. And someone is talking about reshapening.

As per the topic, i take it back. Maybe he is not sleeping, maybe he is just a saddist and enjoys watching the 'works' of his hand cry and mourn and pray for death while some unsure 'man of God' stands and talks about how God knows best, and how he cannot be questioned

And someone here also kindly warned me not to take a swipe at my maker so as not to incur his wrath. Thanks for your concern but i really wont mind for that to happen seeing as even those who fear him and are being led to the slaughter at least that would make me know that he is even there to begin with

Whats that verse again, 'he will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him' and another 'my thoughts towards you are of peace not of evil to give you a future and a hope' whats up with all that

@ Iyeyemi, being a devout churchgoer does no guarantee your salvation but a personal experience with God.

Whatever you go through can not be worse than what Job experienced (read the book of Jon from the beginning to the end again and again), you will discover that when Satan was dealing with Job, my God was not in the equation but allowed it to happen so he can take the glory at the end of it. What you are experiencing right now is similar to what Job experienced when he cursed the day he was born. What you need to do is go past this and look forward to the end.

A true devout Christian would know that the bible clearly says that trial and tribulations would [certainly] come but in all we should be steadfast in our faith and in all situations we should thank the Lord.

Maybe you should search much deeper within and honestly do a self-review and realignment to see if you are truly working according to the word of the Lord and obeying all his instructions to you.

When the Love / salvation of the Lord came it came free, but when the blessings(health, protection, wealth, prosperity, peace, provisions etc) came they came with a condition which is that we obey all his commandments (Read Deuteronomy 28). What you are going through could be as a result of not fully obeying the Lord (towards the end Deut 28).

In other words, everybody thats going through pains is either not following God honestly or its just God's will to make them suffer so that at the end he will take the glory. How convenient

And then thanks for the Job story, I do love all those conveniently made up bible stories, they always serve to keep erring children of God in line. And I am not the one going through stuff, granted I have my own mountains, but I am way past assuming that it is God who determines what happens or does not happen to me. Just tryn to see if there is something i am missing. Try as you have though, all i am getting is the same vibe. Whatever will be will be, its just a bit sad that i have spent all these years believing a big lie, a convenient lie indeed, but still a lie.

@iyeyemi No matter how holy you are (even pastor, bishop) trials and tribulations must come.

I find it amusing that you refer to the Job story as conveniently made up bible stories: Made up by whom, me, you or the pastor? The bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit and has been tested and trusted over the years.

God is supreme, above all, the alpha and omega, the King of kings no matter what you say, think or do.

The only lie you have believed all these year's is that you can achieve anything by yourself.

_{Did you read my first post on this topic?}

Seems like people dont even know much about the God that they serve, she lost her husband and lost one of her child, was she smarter than those that never had kids to start with, there are so many women out there that cant even had kids, she has kids and cos God never stopped her from losing one, does that mean that God aint no more God? pls, sometimes, when i think about it, i think these are reasons why God has given us teh chance to chose btw life and death, when God was reshapening Job, he never even allowed any of the kids to survive, and besides, even his buz was all crumbled to the extent that his wife told hime to curse God and die, what a foolish woman though, i read someone saying Job story was only a make up, that is aiight too, and when God refuse to give such the kinda breakthru that Job had, you will be complaining, human.
A man was whining he has no hat, till he see the man that has no head.
Ayefele sang one song
A rich man praise God that he is not begging for bread
A poor man praise God that he is crazy
A crazy man praises God that he is not dead.
So my people, once there is life, there is hope.
However, while u grief, do not curse God, plssssssssss