“Abide in Me, and I in You.” John 15:4

In Hebrew, the word abide – or yashab – can mean to sit. Sitting is a motionless verb – which is why it’s so crazy hard to do. Sitting is a discipline. When my third son, Ezra, was younger he had physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy on a regular cadence. All the specialists worked with him on his attention span and the discipline of completing an activity from beginning to end.

The same is true of us spiritually. God is infinitely patient and He could sit for an eternity with you (and, if you recall, He did sit down after the final sacrifice was made – see Hebrews 10:12). Ironically, the discipline of sitting takes time, practice, and effort. Aren’t we thankful that God doesn’t expect us to achieve the discipline of stillness without Him? He understands you have to build up the attention span of your soul and He’s calling you to do that by sitting with Him…abiding with Him…dwelling with Him.

Praise

Oh, precious Lord, thank You for allowing us to give our aching souls to You. We are so deeply thankful for Your patience and gentle care. We love how Your presence brings us such a meaningful rest.

Confess

Eternal God, we confess that we’ve allowed our busy and frantic minds to clamor over Your peaceful voice. Thicken our spirits with Your truth and help our flesh to dissipate in the quietness of Your presence.

Petition

Lord, we love what you say in Isaiah 57:14: “Build up, build up, clear the way. Remove the stumbling block out of the way of My people.” Build up our soul to spend more time sitting with You. Remove what is causing us to stumble and block the sin of the world from our hearts. Amen.