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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.
For me, I
think that this is one of the most powerful chapters in the book of
Lamentations, and perhaps any book written by a prophet. This chapter seems to start out so
negatively. Jeremiah’s spirit seems so
broken. But let’s remember what has happened
to him. He was called by God to proclaim
a difficult message to a people who had little interest in listening to him. He was imprisoned. He was mocked. He was starved. People wanted him dead. He was kidnapped. He saw people reject the message of God. No wonder he sounds broken and beaten down!
However,
what I love about this chapter is that after Jeremiah bears his soul, Jeremiah
asserts that his soul is not staying in the misery. His soul belongs in the hands of the
Lord. Even after everything that he
endured, Jeremiah knows that God’s mercy never ends. He knows that God’s love is never lost. God’s presence is always capable of being
with us and ministering to us.
That’s what
abiding is really all about. Abiding is
finding those moments in life where we need to rest in God’s hands and let Him
fill us back up. Abiding is about
looking to God and imitating His goodness and kindness and mercy in spite of
our circumstances. Jeremiah is an
incredible model of godliness in this passage.
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