Jeremiah 1:17 You therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you: be not dismayed at their faces… The girdle is often yards in length, and is a significant part of a man's apparel when in full dress; and the first sign that a man is in earnest about any work would be that he would gather his skirts about him and tuck them into his girdle; so as to be unhampered and free. The idea for us is that Christian service demands concentration. It needs the fixing of a man's power upon one thing, and the gathering together of all the strength of one's nature until its softest and loosest particles are knit together and become strong. You may take a handful of cotton down and squeeze it tight enough to make it hard and as heavy as a bullet, or you may stretch it out into tissue paper. The reason why some men hit and make no dint is because they are not gathered together, compacted — their loins are not girded. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. |
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