Whispers of His Power – APRIL 25
Mark 15.36: And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink.
When we read, in Matthew, Mark and John, of how a soldier ran and filled a sponge with the only drink that was near at hand, and offered it to our Lord Jesus, don’t we all feel how good it must have been to be that soldier, or even that sponge? For if there had not been a sponge to soak up the vinegar, the soldier could not have met this last human need of our dear Lord.
That sponge was once a living thing. It had to die before it could be empty. A sponge is only the skeleton of a creature or of many creatures.
This is one of the figures of the true which are everywhere waiting to speak to us. It seems to say: ‘There must be death to that which perhaps is very life to you, before you can be empty enough to be filled to quench the thirst of the Saviour of the world’. ‘There is no life except by death’, nor is there any service of the sort that satisfies His heart.
Self must die – that is the message of the sponge.
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.
Suffolk Vicar 