Whispers of His Power – SEPTEMBER 9

Mark 8.4:  And His disciples answered Him,  From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?

The disciples needed faith that day.  They had to persuade the people that it was worth their while to sit down, and this before they saw how they would be fed.  A hungry disappointed eastern crowd can be difficult to handle. Suppose, after sitting down in expectation, that crowd had found itself deceived? That fear must have come to the disciples.

As they brought their poor little loaves and fishes, the disciples, who were at that time far from what they afterwards became, must have been tempted to wonder whether what they had seen happen before would really happen again.  We are tempted like that.  We need to have faith that the soul we are trying to persuade to sit down, so that its Lord may feed it, really will sit down, and really will be fed. If there be the least doubt in our own hearts, that doubt will somehow affect that soul.  Even as we bring all we have to offer to our Lord for His multiplying touch and blessing, we may be assaulted by doubt.  Will it be of any use? Will anything happen?  Or will it be all in vain?

The answer to such questions is found in words like this:

Your labour is not in vain in the Lord. God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Experience [worketh] hope (1 Cor.15.58; 2 Tim.1.7; Rom.5.4).

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.