“But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” – Matthew 13:25.

The above verse is borrowed from the parable of the tares and wheat as told by Jesus to illustrate the kingdom of heaven. My focus is on this verse because there seems to be a cause (“while men slept”) and a consequence (“his enemy came and sowed tares”)

It is important to note that although men sleep at night, not all creatures sleep at night. Certain plants grow at night, so they don’t rest. The bat is a nocturnal animal, so it’s very active when men are asleep. A particular species of spiders weave their webs at night.

Not all men sleep at night – some are on night shift, others are awake worrying and sorrowing on their beds, some are studying, and some evil men are also planning and executing evil plans while other people are sleeping. So, not all the creatures of God sleep at night.

When Jesus told the above parable, He knew that the night is given to men to sleep. That is God’s intention, that we should rest in the evening and start again the next day following the pattern He showed us at creation in Genesis chapter 1. Jesus said in John 9:4, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

So, Jesus understands that we should sleep at night. But since He doesn’t sleep nor slumber, He guards us while our eyes are closed.

Now, the issue is that when men are sleeping, if the other beings who are awake aren’t attempting to kill, steal, or destroy man, there wouldn’t be a problem. After all, they may be doing their things. The problem is that some of these beings are thieves interested in stealing, killing and destruction. And they love to operate at the most vulnerable time of the man’s daily life – when he is asleep.

When you sleep all your natural human detective organs are resting, such that you may not know if someone is getting close to you. Your eyes are closed and your ability to detect sounds is greatly lowered.

Satan and his evil agents like to conduct their operations at night when the natural and spiritual defence systems of many people are down. He loves to operate undisturbed or with minimal hindrances at night.

Also, note that you are not the only one that can access that farmland. If you want to be the only one planting on the farm, you must be awake for 24 hours to stop any intruder. Just like weeds grow in your land if you don’t guard against them, so does Satan plant tares when our guards are down.

Unfortunately, some people don’t pray, so their spiritual alert system is turned off and their defence mechanisms are down. This is spiritual slumber.

The night could also represent a period of spiritual inactivity. It is a time when you are not actively building your spiritual defence and attack systems and when your guards are down. You become cold and easy prey for the devil when out of carelessness, carefree attitude, ignorance, busyness, laziness, or life’s troubles you stop caring for your spiritual health.

Note that hot land is not fertile soil for the growth of weeds. So, when you are spiritually hot, Satan can attempt to plant tares in your life, but they won’t germinate.

The Juice: While you slept, the enemy (Satan) planted things in your family, spiritual life, academics, job, health, psyche, and marriage.

He came and killed the good seed that was germinating in your life. He sowed confusion that derailed your life. He planted evil dreams that killed the godly dreams you had. He sowed tares all over your life and the fruits of your life have been horrible ever since.

But enough is enough! You must awake today and visit your farmland. Your assignment is to uproot, with the help of the Holy Ghost, whatever evil plant is in your life.

Prayers: Dear Lord, whatever the enemies sowed while I slept, let them be uprooted.
Whatever the devil stole while I slept let it be recovered.