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Let us consider next one or two passages of Scripture that
will strengthen our faith in this `very present' aspect of God's
provision.
`He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep' (Psa.
121:4).
Every human life, without exception, is an alternation of
waking and sleeping, and there is bound to come a time when
sleep will rob even the most vigilant and conscientious guard of
all power to carry out his duty. There is, however, more than
this in Psalm 121:4. It is not merely for the sake of the poetry of
the passage that the Psalmist uses the two expressions `slumber'
and `sleep'. The two words have not quite the same meaning.
`To sleep' (Heb. yashen) means `to fall asleep' involuntarily, as
when a deep sleep fell upon Adam (Gen. 2:21), or when man
`sleeps the sleep of death' (Psa. 13:3). `To slumber' (Heb.
num), on the other hand, refers more to `drowsiness', something
that might be shaken off and overcome. In Proverbs we read
that `drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags' (Prov. 23:21), and
Nahum's charge against the rulers of Nineveh is expressed in the
words: `Thy shepherds slumber' (Nah. 3:18).
Of false
shepherds of Israel, we read in Isaiah: `His watchmen are blind;
they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark;
sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber' (Isa. 56:10).
The Lord neither `slumbers' through lack of interest, nor
`sleeps' because of frailty. He is indeed a very present help in
trouble.