Whispers of His Power – FEBRUARY 24

Isa. 26.3, 4: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.

The Authorized Version margin gives ‘imagination’ as the meaning of the word ‘mind’.  The present moment rarely troubles us.  It is when we let ourselves imagine what may be lying ahead that we find ourselves, often, shaken or anxious or cowardly.

Did you ever notice that you never stand up to anything hard in a dream?  You invariably either succumb or wake up.  As a child I read Fox’s Book of Martyrs and dreamt dreadful Spanish Inquisition dreams.  It was the greatest grief to me that I never stood the torture but always escaped it somehow.  Either I gave in or I woke up.  I thought it meant that if I had lived in those awful days I would have denied the Lord.  For years this unspoken fear haunted me, till at last I understood that the grace of God is not given to us for dreams, creations of our imagination.  The grace of God is given us for real life.

He who strengthens and illuminates our today will make strong and radiant our tomorrow.  This must be true, for with Him is no variableness, ‘neither shadow that is cast by turning’, as James 1.17 (RV) tells us for our comfort.  Therefore let us stay our imagination on Him and refuse to let it wander off into unknown tomorrows.

Trust ye in the Lord for ever.  Him we know – for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him (2 Tim. 1.12).  To Him I have committed my future, my tomorrow.  I may safely trust Him, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

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.