Whispers of His Power – MAY 21

Isa. 38.16:  O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit.

Isa. 38.14:  O Lord, I am oppressed;  undertake for me (margin: ease me).

Hezekiah’s story comes in 2 Kings 18-20 and Isaiah 38.  There had been close walk with God and he prospered wherever he went.  He fought the Lord’s battles and saw His victories.  It is one long tale of triumphant life, the kind of life that is full of light and certainty, in spite of Satanic opposition.  There were quick answers to prayer, That which thou hast prayed to Me:.. I have heard (2 Kings 19.20).

We know the sunlit joy of such days.  They may be full of battle but they are the very kind the heart most desires and most delights in.

Then suddenly the path he has been following leads down a long slope to the levels of life.  He misses the exhilaration of the peaks, and his heart longs for what used to be.  He cries, O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me – ease me.  O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit.  Not only the hours of exultation when we walk under opened heaven and we see, but also those hours when we do not see, or hear, or feel, and only cry, ‘Lord, ease me’ – by these things men live.  And in all these things are the life of the spirit, life that holds in it the seed of life for others.

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.