Whispers of His Power – JULY 4

Rom. 8.28:  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8.28 contains a certainty which the great adversary continually assaults.  It was so with Joseph.  First at Dothan, then in Egypt, all things seemed to be working together for harm, not good.  We read of no special revelation granted for his help in prison.  He seems to have been trusted to walk by faith not by sight, as for the most part we are too.

Joseph had not his own finished story to read, nor Romans 8.28, nor any other Scripture.  If we try to imagine life without a Bible we can only marvel at the wonder of the grace of God shown forth in Joseph and in countless others, right up to today.

Samuel Rutherford wrote about those who seem to be our enemies:  ‘They are set to work as under-smiths and servants to the work of refining the saints.  Their office is to scour and cleanse vessels for the King’s table.’  Thank God for this certainty.  The effect of man’s sin or mistake, temptation to discouragement about ourselves, all limitations and frustrations, and all trials of the flesh and spirit, are really ‘under-smiths and servants’ working together for good to us who love God.

And this is true, too, of all the thousands of joys we experience – they too are God’s servants working together for our good.

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.