Sometimes You Just Need a Nap and a Meal

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D E V O T I O N A L

I spent about two weeks convinced something was wrong with me spiritually.

Prayer felt flat. Reading my Bible felt like homework. I could not seem to summon any real feeling about anything, and I started doing that thing where you turn the microscope on yourself and go looking for the sin that must be causing it. What am I doing wrong? What have I let slip? Why does God feel so far away right now?

Then I got a full night of sleep for the first time in a while, ate an actual meal instead of whatever I had been calling dinner, and took a walk outside.

And I felt like a person again.

Two weeks of spiritual self-interrogation and the answer was that I was exhausted and running on fumes. Not backslidden. Not under attack. Just tired in a way I had refused to take seriously.

There is a moment in 1 Kings that I love for exactly this reason. Elijah has just come off the biggest spiritual victory of his life. Fire from heaven, prophets of Baal defeated, a genuine mountaintop moment. And then almost immediately he collapses. He runs into the wilderness, sits under a tree, and asks God to let him die. He says he has had enough.

This is a prophet. A man who had just watched God show up in the most dramatic way imaginable. And he is done. Empty. Wanting out.

So what does God do?

He does not rebuke him. He does not give him a lecture about faith or remind him what he just witnessed. He lets him sleep. Then an angel wakes him up with food and water and tells him to eat. Then He lets him sleep again. And then feeds him a second time, because the journey ahead was too much for him in the state he was in.

Sleep. Food. Sleep. Food. That is God's response to His prophet's breakdown.

The theology comes later. First came the nap and the meal.

I do not think we take that seriously enough. We are quick to spiritualize what is sometimes just physical. We assume the heaviness means God is distant or we have drifted, when a lot of the time our bodies are simply worn down and telling us so in the only language they have.

You are not a soul renting a body. You are an integrated person, and God made you that way on purpose. Psalm 103:14 says "For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust."

He remembers. He is not disappointed that you have limits. He built them.

Now, I want to be careful here. Sometimes the dryness really is spiritual, and sometimes prolonged low seasons need more than rest. If you have been in a dark place for a long stretch, if it goes past tired into something heavier, please talk to a doctor or a counselor. That is not a lack of faith. That is stewardship, and it is exactly the kind of care God showed Elijah in the wilderness.

But often, before we go hunting for a spiritual cause, the honest question is simpler. When did I last sleep properly? When did I last eat a real meal? When did I last go outside or move my body or have a conversation with someone who is not asking me for anything?

Those questions are not beneath your faith. They are part of it.

So if you have been feeling far from God lately and cannot figure out why, before you assume the worst about your spiritual condition, check the basics. Get some sleep. Eat something real. Get some air. Let yourself be human for a minute.

God is not annoyed by your limits. He has been trying to get you to rest this whole time.

Much love and blessings,

Ramzi

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Writing these devotionals is a labor of love, and your support makes it possible. If Coffee With My Father has encouraged you, consider buying me a coffee. Every contribution helps me keep sharing hope and truth each week.

Family

A lot of what looks like impatience with your family is just depletion. Getting rest is not selfish. It is often the fastest way to be kinder to the people you love.

Relationships

When you are running empty, you have nothing to give and everyone feels it. Refuel so you can actually show up for people.

Mental Health

Sleep, food, sunlight, and movement affect mood more than most of us admit. But if low seasons persist despite the basics, please reach out to a professional. Getting help is not weak.

Finances

Financial stress keeps people up at night and running ragged. Decisions made from exhaustion are rarely your best ones. Rest first, then think.

Physical Health

Your body is not separate from your spiritual life. Caring for it is not indulgence. God fed and rested His prophet before He said a single word about the mission.

Sometimes the answer isn't more discipline. Sometimes it's a nap and a meal.

Lord, thank You that You know I am dust and You are not disappointed by it. Forgive me for treating my limits like failures. Help me care for the body You gave me and trust that rest is part of how You designed me. Meet me in the tired places. Amen.

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