Category: Carmichael, Amy

Little words (1)

Little words in Scripture can be very significant.

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Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

I’d like to start a mini-series of posts today–about little words in the Bible.  I have quite a few circled in mine.  What started me noticing them–and their significance–was a meditation I read years ago by Amy Carmichael.  Here it is:

Eph 6.16 Above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.
Shield wall

The word used for shield signifies a great oblong shield which covers the whole body, and the dart mentioned here is the kind which when it strikes a hard object catches fire.  The promise is that when the dart strikes the great shield of faith, though it is set on fire, it is quenched.  It cannot pierce the shield.  It cannot burn the one who is behind the shield.  The promise covers all manner of darts.  The kind of dart hurled against us makes no difference to the promise.  “All” means all.  Do we expect “all” to mean all?  Is there a secret fear in our hearts about a certain kind of temptation which perhaps we shall not be able to overcome?  Away with this fear!  It is of the devil.  The shield of faith is ready to be taken up and used.  If we take it up and use it, not a single dart of any sort will pierce it.  All means all.

Think about the power of that little word: “all”–and look for it in other places in Scripture.

More than conquerors

“So let us all take courage; not one of us is too weak to be made more than a conqueror.” (Amy Carmichael)

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It’s Monday, so I’m going to rely on my good friend, Amy Carmichael, this morning.  She’s always got something good to think about.  And this is a good word for a Monday:

Rom 8.37  More than conquerors.
James 1.2  Count it all joy . . . when you meet various trials.

Sometimes when we read the words of those who have been more than conquerors, we feel almost despondent.  “I shall never be like that,” we feel.  But they won through, step by step; by little acts of will, little denials of self, little inward victories, by faithfulness in very little things, they became what they are.  No one sees these little hidden steps, they only see the accomplishment; but even so, those small steps were taken.  There is no sudden triumph, no spiritual maturity that is the work of a moment.  So let us all take courage; not one of us is too weak to be made more than a conqueror.

As a “bonus” today, I’m adding another short homily to the “Talks” tab above, under “Other Talks.”  This one is by Fr. Ken McKenna, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales and a good friend of our community.  He is an excellent homilist, short and to the point.  He gave this homily this past Saturday on “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”  Some of his examples are more pertinent to us, but I thought you would all benefit from–and enjoy–his homily.  Click here. (It’s only 7 minutes long.)

The God of hope

“The God of Hope” hopes for us, even for us. (Amy Carmichael)

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I guess it’s obvious if you look at my “Category Cloud”–scroll down the sidebar on the right–that Amy Carmichael is indeed a present and favorite author of mine.  She has been consistently present in my life for many years.  When I pause to consider why, the reason is simply because reading her has always fostered great hope in me.  She helps me to be a witness to hope.  And so I quote her often in my blog in the hopes that she will also foster hope in you.

Rom 15:13 says: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Amy begins her reflections on this verse first by looking at some other verses in Scripture, verses that seem contradictory and surprising: In Lk 22.28,  Jesus says: You are those who have continued with me in my trials.   Yet, just a few hours later, he says: Could you not watch with me one hour?  And then (Mt 26.56): Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.
     Another set of conflicting verses:  In Jn 17.6, Jesus says to His Father: They have kept Your word.  Yet we know differently–as is so evident in Lk 22.24, describing their activity right after the institution of the Eucharist (!) (but who am I to judge?!): A dispute arose among them, which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.
     And so Amy wonders: How could Jesus say: They have kept Your word.

     How could He say it?  What does it mean to us?  Just this: Our Lord of Love, our blessed Lord Jesus, looks upon us with such loving eyes that He sees us as we are in our deepest, lowliest, holiest moments, in those hours when, like John, we lean upon His bosom, and He speaks to us, and we all but see His face.
     He knows, as no one else can know, how far we fall. “Not as though I had already attained”–He knows that; but “I press on”–He knows that, too.
     The love of the Father has the same golden quality of hope.  “The God of Hope” hopes for us, even for us.  He never loses hope.  He accepted the word of His beloved Son: “They have kept [intently observed] Thy word”, in spite of times when they had seemed most grievously to disregard it–when for example at our Lord’s own table they strove about the dreadful matter of pre-eminence.  The God of Hope saw what they wished to be, what they yet would be.  And He looks at us like that.  Is there not something in this that touches us to the quick?  How grieve a love like that?  And is there not encouragement, too, for the strengthening of our souls?
                   (Edges of His Ways, p. 145)

The age-long minute

If you feel like Jesus may pass you by, have hope–He is coming to you.

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Sr. Dorcee, beloved3 Comments

The title of this post comes from a meditation by Amy Carmichael on Ps 107.29-30: He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.  Then they were glad because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.  I have to say that my first thought after reading Then they were glad because they had quiet, were: “This verse must mean a lot to parents of toddlers and teenagers!”  Amy’s reflection was other–and deeper–than mine 🙂

jesus-walking-on-the-water“Then they were glad because they had quiet;” the words were music to me.  Then in reading the different stories of the Lord calming the sea, I found this: “He came to them . . . and meant to pass by them” [Mk 6.48].  The more literal the translation the more startling it is.  As I pondered the matter I saw that this “age-long minute” was part of the spiritual preparation of these men for a life that at that time was unimagined by them–a life of dauntless faith and witness in the absence of any manifestation of the power of the Lord; and it must be the same today.  Such minutes must be in our lives, unless our training is to be unlike that of ever saint and warrior who ever lived.  Our “minute” may seem endless–“How long wilt Thou forget me,” cried David out of the depths of his–but perhaps looking back we shall in such an experience a great and shining opportunity.  Words are spoken then that are spoken at no other time . . .  We have a chance to prove our glorious God, to prove that His joy is strength and that His peace passeth all understanding, and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge.
     And the “minute” always ends in one way, there is no other ending recorded anywhere: “But immediately he spoke to them, and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; have no fear” . . . and the wind ceased” [Mk 6.50].   
     “Then they were glad because they had quiet; and he brought them to their desired haven.”
                                                  (Edges of His Ways, pp. 143-44)

If you feel that you are in “an age-long minute”, have hope–He is coming to you and will bring you to your desired haven.

Disheartened over your failures and mistakes?

“Have you ever looked back over a month and felt more than a little disheartened over the failures and mistakes–the blots on the page you had meant to keep so white?” (Amy Carmichael)

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Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

Another gem from Amy Carmichael–she’s always such a witness to hope for me:

Isaiah 52.12  The God of Israel will be your rear guard.

    Have you ever looked back over a month and felt more than a little disheartened over the failures and mistakes–the blots on the page you had meant to keep so white?
    There is a most beautiful and tender meaning in the words “rear guard” which again and again has comforted me.  It may be new to some of you.  It means to gather.  The Revised Version margin has, to gather you up.  An army as it goes forth into new territory needs a Vanguard to protect the van [Note: a van is the foremost or front division of an army], and a Rearguard to protect the rear, so our glorious God use us these two words in speaking of His loving work to us-ward.  The Lord will go before us.  Our Vanguard is the Lord.  And the Lord God of Israel will be our Rearguard–following after, not only to defend us, should the enemy attack in the rear, as he often does, but to gather us up if we flag and are wary because of the way.  And if He gathers us up, He gathers up also the things we have dropped, our poor fallen resolutions, mistakes, everything, and deals with them Himself.  There is eternal love and tenderness in these dear words, “The Lord God of Israel shall gather you up.” Not only that, The glory of the Lord shall be your Rear guard (Is. 58.8). 
     So, as we travel on into another month we need not fear, Eternal Love is our Vanguard, the glory of Eternal Love is our Rearguard.  The everlasting Arms of Everlasting Love shall gather us up.

As for God, His way is perfect

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

Some thoughts from Amy Carmichael that have inspired me time and again:

Ps 18.30: As for God, His way is perfect.

God is love, so we may change the word and say, As for Love, His way is perfect.  This has been helping me.
     One of the ways of Love is to prepare us beforehand for any hard thing that He knows is near.  Perhaps this word will be His loving preparation to some heart for a disappointment, or for some trial of faith, or some secret sorrow between the Father and His child.  As for Love, His way is perfect.  (Edges of His Ways, p. 131)

If we take this word seriously, it will be life-changing.

“How can we reach the place where we can say ‘More than’?”

“Have you noticed that, from the place where you stand, there is always a shining way on the water, in the sunrise or sunset, or in moonlight, or when a bright planet like Venus is rising or setting?” (Amy Carmichael)

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Continued from yesterday:

     How can we reach the place where we can say “More than”?
     Have you noticed that, from the place where you stand, there is always a shining way on the water, in the sunrise or sunset, or in moonlight, or when a bright planet like Venus is rising or setting?  There may be a hundred people on the shore, and yet each one sees that path beginning just where he or she stands.  I shall never forget my astonishment when I saw this for the first time.
    It is like that with the Bible.  Wherever you are reading you will find a path that leads you from that place straight to the heart of God, and the desires of God.
    Perhaps some are puzzled about the path which I said leads straight from whatever part of the Bible you are reading, to the heart of God, just as the shining path on the water leads from the place where your feet are standing across to the other side.
    I was reading the Psalms, especially Psalms 3 and 4, when I wrote that, so I will take these as our starting point–the place on the shore where we are standing.
    In both psalms there is that clear honesty in prayer that we find in all Bible prayers.  David was not thinking of making the kind of prayer people would talk about, and call beautiful or earnest or anything of that sort.  He was keen to tell his God the truth about things, as far as he knew it, even about the miserable noise of words [Ps 3.2; Ps 4.2, 6]–a thing that very advanced Christians would have told him he really ought not to mind at all.  Then there was a restful committal of things in general and all that unkind talk in particular, and then the will to trust and not be afraid; and as the fears rolled up, prayer again, honest prayer.
     I want to remind myself and you that we never get anywhere if we only look at the shining path.  These notes will have been entirely useless if they have not helped to bring us to the place where our happiness does not depend on the work we are doing, the place we are in, our friends, our health, whether people notice us or not, praise us or not, understand us or not.  No single one of the circumstances has any power itself to upset the joy of God, but it can instantly and utterly quench it if we look at the circumstances instead of up into the Face of light and love that is looking down upon us–the Face of our own God.
     This is the shining path, stretching away from the place were we stand today to the very heart of God.  This is the shining path that shineth more and more as we walk into it.

Let us ask God to show us the shining paths in our lives today and to give us the grace to look up from them to His Face of love that is looking down upon us today, in this moment.

“It was in every way a hard time for David . . .”

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Well, no one has told me that they’re tired of my Amy Carmichael quotes (or maybe you’re all just being nice to me), so I’m going to share a couple more today and tomorrow.   They tie in nicely with yesterday’s post, “Being honest with God.” 

Ps 4.7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.

Psalms 3 and 4 were written when David fled from [his son] Absalom [cf. 2 Sam 13ff]; and if, as some think, Psalm 4 was written at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, the harvest and the vintage were over, and the rich stores of corn and new wine were at Absalom’s disposal, while David had nothing or very little.  It was in every way a hard time for David, and it was not surprising that many said there was “no help for him in God” and “Who will show us any good?”  We all know times of trial when the voices within and without talk like that.  But David’s faith breaks through, and he can honestly say, Though hast put gladness in my heart more than when corn and wine increased.  It is not difficult to have gladness in our hearts when we have what we want–corn and wine may stand for whatever we most enjoy doing or possessing–but God asks for something far more than this.  He wants what David offered Him when he wrote those words more than.
     What David offered to his God was a heart that was utterly satisfied with His will.  There were no private reservations, no little whispered “if”–if only I can be where I want to be, and have what I want to have, then there will be gladness in my heart, O God; he did not say that–he did not even say, By Thy grace I am glad, I am as glad as I should be if I had those stores of corn and wine.  He went further, he flew right out of all the restricting thoughts that might have caged his spirit, up and up into the free air of God, and he said, Thou hast put a new kind of gladness in my heart.  It does not depend on what I have, it is more than that sort of gladness.  It is a joy that is entirely independent of circumstances.

To be continued tomorrow . . .

“Is this not the Carpenter?”

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I read this piece by Amy Carmichael this morning.  Sometimes her language can feel a bit stilted, but it’s always worth it to me to plow through.  This one is on an obscure–at least, I would consider it obscure–passage in Zechariah, chapter 1, verses 18-21.  Here are verses 18-19: “And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns!  And I said to the angel who talked with me, ‘What are these?’  And he answered me, ‘These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.'”

Amy comments:

“I see such difficulties, I hardly know how to go on.”  Most of us have said this, or felt it, at one time or another.  We have it here: “I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.”  “I saw . . . four horns’–those powers that scatter and shatter and spoil, the cruel powers that blast good work, and discourage souls, ‘so that no man did lift up his head”–“I saw” them.  [The Scripture passage continues:] “And the Lord showed me four carpenters”–those powers that put right what is wrong, that frighten away, terrify the evil powers–“the Lord showed me” them.
       We see the horns ourselves, but until the Lord opens our eyes we do not see the carpenters, and yet they are as truly present as the horns.
       “All power is given to Me in Heaven and in earth . . . .and lo, I am with you always” [Mt 28:18,20]–“all the days and all the day long.”  “Is this not the Carpenter?” [Mk 6.3]

“Is this not the Carpenter?” . . .

This God–his way is perfect

As for God, His way is perfect . . . And if His way is perfect we need no explanation. (Amy Carmichael)

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Sr. Dorcee, beloved3 Comments

This morning during our worship time we were singing Jane Terwilliger’s “Psalm 18”, and I was struck by the line: “This God–his way is perfect.”  That reminded me of a section of an incredible letter written by Rev. Frank Houghton in the 1800’s, I believe, after his sister died.  Rev. Houghton was part of the China Inland Mission–any of you remember the story of Hudson Taylor? (a must read!).  His sister sailed for China as part of the Two Hundred, a group of missionaries setting off for China.  She had waited 10 years for the opportunity to go.  Here’s the section of his letter:

As a family God has been speaking to us recently through the death of my youngest sister, Freda, on August 31.  We have no details yet. She sailed on September 18 of last year in one of the parties of the Two Hundred, after ten years’ patient waiting for the way to open.
     Many of our friends in their letters of sympathy speak of God’s mysterious ways, and I know there is an element of mystery.  But I shrink from the suggestion that our Father has done anything which needs to be explained.  What He has done is the best, because He has done it, and I pray that as a family we may not cast about for explanations of the mystery, but exult in the Holy Spirit, and say, ‘I thank Thee Father . . . Even so, Father.”  It suggests a lack of confidence in Him if we find it necessary to try to understand all that He does.
     Will it not bring Him greater joy to tell Him that we need no explanation because we know Him?  But I doubt not there will be a fulfillment of Jn 12:24.

On the same page in my journal, I have this quote from Amy Carmichael:

As for God, His way is perfect . . . And if His way is perfect we need no explanation.  (Rose from Brier, p. 115)

Lord, help us to be women who trust that Your way is perfect. . .