A deep sleep before Eve
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Genesis 2:21
There's a correlation between "do not awaken love until it desires" in the song of songs and how God put Adam in deep sleep to create Eve, and then when he awoke, God brought Eve to him. Marriage is the first God-ordained relationship in human history, the foundation of families, and the relationship represents Christ and the church's covenantal relationship.
In our modern culture, love and marriage are so distorted, and staying biblical is harder than ever. A lot of people refuse to sleep and awaken love too soon and too early, resulting in many heartaches. Particularly, many dating people already accelerate the pace developing intimacy level and commitment as marriage couples, both physically and emotionally, so this is one of the metaphors that people don't want to sleep in the nighttime, so they overdraft the energy throughout the night, which leaves them tired and weary the next morning.
My personal experience and observation with many people is that when they have sex before marriage, they become blindsided, so they cannot see the other person clearly. It is unfortunate that many Christians ignore fornication's consequences as the Bible clearly states that fornicators cannot inherit God's kingdom.
In the end, we don't know what will happen when we stand before God. It isn't our place to judge others since everyone will give an account of ourselves to God. (Romans 14:12). However, on earth the consequences will grieve the spirit, open doors to unwanted access, and block our intimacy with God. Yet, when we repent and sin no more, God will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.
Everything has its time. It is God's intention that we fall into a deep sleep so that we may rest fully, when we naturally wake up for marriage, we have the energy to embrace it fully. The deep sleep we get can rejuvenate us, heal us, and restore our purity.
Like a restless teenager, sometimes we don't want to sleep, but party all night to experience the euphoric rush of love adrenaline. There may be "insomnia" because we fantasize and idolize marriage so much that we can't sleep. Perhaps someone counterfeit ping us in the middle of the night, so we stay up for the wrong one. Upon waking up, we're tired and need a lot of caffeine to make it through a marriage that lasts for decades.
As we fall asleep, we can be rooted and more bonded to God and experience seasons of non-romantic relationships with our family, friends and church, as marriage isn't all about romantic love; our spouse is also our best friend, family member, and a symbol of Christ's love. May we awaken refreshed and ready for our marriage after a deep sleep.
Blessing prayer: During this waiting period, may you remove our restlessness and idols, so that we can fully surrender our marriage to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen
