Whispers of His Power – JANUARY 4

Jer. 18.4, 6: The vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in Mine hand.

When a piece of steel has been subjected to such stress that it has lost its power to recover its elasticity, it is said to be distorted.  But it can be made right again.  It is put in the furnace, and so it recovers what it had lost.

Perhaps we have given way under the great stress of temptation and become ‘distorted’.  Perhaps we have lost hope of ever recovering.  ‘I am like this now;  I shall always be like this.’

Are we willing to be put into any furnace of God’s choosing if only we may be made fit for His use?  We cannot choose our furnace.  Sometimes it is the furnace of affliction of Isaiah 48.10.

But always there is hope.  Cannot I do with you as this potter?  asks the Lord.  We are in His hand, and no one can snatch us from His grasp.  Our dear Lord says, My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all;  and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand (John 10.29).

oooOOOooo

These words are from ’Whispers of His Power’ a collection of writings that Amy Carmichael wrote for her ‘children’ and others associated with the Dohnavur Fellowship and are Copyright © The Dohnavur Fellowship 1982

Unless otherwise stated, biblical quotations are from the Authorized King James Version of the Bible.

The following abbreviations are used to refer to other versions and sources:

BCP:               Book of Common Prayer, the Great Bible of Coverdale

Conybeare:       W. J. Conybeare, The Epistles of Paul (a translation)

Delitzsch:        F. Delitzsch, Notes on Job and the Psalms

Kay:                W. Kay, The Psalms (a translation)

LXX:              The Septuagint

Moffatt:           J. Moffatt, The New Testament: a new translation

Rotherham:      J. B. Rotherham, The Emphasized Bible Revised Version

RV:                 Revised Version

Way:              A. Way, The Letters of St Paul (a translation)

Westcott:        F. Westcott, Notes on the Gospel of St John

Weymouth:      R. F. Weymouth, The New Testament in Modern Speech

Young:            R. Young, A Literal Translation of the Bible

Verses of poetry without quotation marks were written by Amy Carmichael.