Inquiry:
Does God sleep? Psalm 121:3-4 says that “…He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep,” and yet in Psalm 44:23, the Psalmist pleads, “Awake, why sleepest though, O LORD?” Is there a contradiction?
Response:
Psalm 122 tells us very pointedly that God does not sleep or slumber; He is watchful over and keeps His people. And yet in Psalm 44:23, among other verses, the writers asked why God sleeps, and seek for Him to awaken.
The Hebrew ישׁן (H3462) is translated “sleep” in the text. The word is defined by Strong’s Concordence as
to be slack or languid, to sleep; to die; to grow old, stale or inveterate: remain long; make to sleep.
The Hebrew עוּר (H5782) is translated “awake” in the text. It is defined as:
…opening the eyes; to wake; lift up, raise up; stir..
It is unfortunate that the translators chose to use “awake” and “sleep.” I suppose it may be that they did not want to refer to God as slack or languid. And yet languid is the best description of what took place. Languid means to lack “force or quickness of movement : slow” (Merriam-Webster).
He was not sleeping, He did not act when the Psalmist expected that He would. The text could have just as easily been translated:
…Rise up! Why are you languid, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever.
The above may be a better literal translation, but the English text is not as troublesome as the questioner thinks. The Lord is not literally asleep; it is a figure. We use the same type of speech of someone who is not paying attention or who is acting slow. We may say, “Wake up, man!” Does that mean they were sleeping, or that they were slow of movement and need to rise up and get going?
There is no contradiction.
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