Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Abide
- Abide: This is a moment, day, or even a season when we focus on God. It is a time when we are rejuvenated by God. It is the time for us to gather up what we will need for the coming growth after a season of pruning. However, abiding is not the end. We abide so that we can grow, bear fruit, prune, and abide again.
I’m going
to talk about abiding in at least two different contexts today. The first context parallels my theological
commentary from three years ago on Psalm 67.
There is something comfortable in coming upon scripture that you know
very well. Psalm 67 opens with a
paraphrase of Numbers 6:24-26. It is a
very familiar passage to those who worship liturgically. It is called the Aaronic Blessing and it
closes many of our worship services.
For me,
passages like that often lead to abiding.
I feel at home and comfortable when I read scripture with which I am
familiar. I feel like I am revisiting a
well-loved and well-read book. I can
remember all the times in my past when I came upon this scripture and think
about how often this scripture has been true.
Coming upon beloved scripture simply reinforces the stability of the
relationship I have with God. In a word,
it causes me to abide.
However,
within these psalms we have genuine theological reasons to abide. What does the psalmist tell us about the
presence of the Lord? He blesses
us. He is gracious to us. His face shines upon us. We sing for joy because of His justice. The fatherless can abide in Him. The widow can abide in Him. We can abide in Him because He bears us
up. We can rest securely in His hands
because He is like a fortress and a strong mountain. We don’t have to handle the big world all on
our own. We can lean into Him and abide
with Him as He prepares us to do His work.
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