Whispers of His Power – JANUARY 14

John 13.4-5,10: He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself.  After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet…  Jesus saith to him [Peter], He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.

Sins are obvious things, but perhaps the dust on the feet means things less easily discerned.  That inward uprising of the ‘I’, those lacks of which we are conscious more and more – lacks of love, courage, patience, simple good-tempered contentedness – such lacks make dusty feet.

Is it not blessed and wonderful that He Himself prepared the disciples for the Supper?  We may not see the dust distinctly, but He does, and He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples feet.  Wet feet would soon pick up dust again, so He wiped them with the towel wherewith He was girded.

Wherever we remember our dear Lord’s death, is it not peace to know that He Himself will prepare us?  And as the old hymn says,

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.