Whispers of His Power – FEBRUARY 10

Neh. 8.10, 16, 17: This day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the people went forth… and made themselves booths… and sat under the booths… And there was very great gladness.

After Nehemiah said The joy of the Lord is your strength the people suddenly remembered Leviticus 23.39-43. Ye shall take… the boughs of goodly trees… and ye shall rejoice before the Lord.  That was the commandment, such a happy one.  So they gathered branches, and made booths on their roofs (what fun for the children), and they sat in these green booths and rejoiced before the Lord for seven happy days.  And there was very great gladness.

Our God will do glorious things if only we let Him have His way in us.  He is a God of Joy, and He loves us to be happy.

Perhaps one of the secrets of happiness is found in the very next verse, Nehemiah 8.18: Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God.  Can we say with Jeremiah (15.16), Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for truly I am called by Thy Name, O Lord God of Hosts.

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.