colinjcampbell

The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle — Anais Nin 
Tags


Filed under

amycarmichael

 
June 9, 2009

To Lean

The following excerpted from Thou Givest…They Gather by Amy Carmichael.

"Thus spake Jehovah unto me like a firm grasp of the hand…" Isaiah 8:11 (Roth)

Blessed be the Lord our God who does in very truth cause His word to come unto us in this way. 

Sometimes this firm grasp comes through the opening of a single word. It has come to me through such an opening of the word "trust," which I find in Young's [Analytical Concordance] means to lean on–trust –confide. I found that Rotherham sometimes translates it lean on as in 2 Chronicles 14:11, "On Thee do we lean"; and chapter 16:7, "Because though…hast not leaned"; and I found many verses in the Psalms in which are very comfortable words so translated.

Psalm 13:5: "I have trusted in Thy mercy"–leaned on Thy mercy, "Thy loving-kindness" as others render it; that loving-kindness which has loved us with an everlasting love, which pardons and cleanses and will never tire of us. Lord, I lean upon Thy loving-kindness. And Psalm 32:10: "He that trusteth in the Lord [leaneth on the Lord], mercy [loving-kindness] shall compass him about. 

Is it not like His love to let us know that He wants us to lean, not only on His loving-kindness, but on His very self? "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23) the word takes us there; Whoso leaneth on the Lord, happy is he." (Proverbs 16:20) He is indeed. 

That same verb is used in some of the verses that are never far from us, such as Psalm 143:8. "Cause me to hear . . . for on Thee do I lean." (It was when John was leaning that he heard his Lord's answer to a question which puzzled the others.)
"What time I am afraid, I will lean on Thee." Psalm 56:3
"I will lean and not be afraid." Isaiah 12:2
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace . . . because he leaneth on Thee; . . . Lean ye on the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Isaiah 26:3-4.

Can we wonder that the blessed Spirit, who guides in the choice of words, led the writer who was longing to tell of the delight of answered prayer to this special verb, which so clearly shows that it is nothing in us which accounts for the Lord's goodness to us? It is all, all of Him. "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart leaned on Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him." Psalm 28:7.

May the Lord of love make this word of His to be "like a firm grasp of the hand" to each one of us. 

I am discovering to my shock that this is a hard saying, that I do not like to lean on any other at all. "We are fearfully and wonderfully made" and this would be the fearfully part. Sometimes, when you get down past the shallowness of the Mind and intellect, into the hidden bowels of your being - the fundamental You; where your Spirit and your Nature are embroiled in contest for the Will which they inform, you find that which your Mind and Spirit would readily hold is not at all what your Nature has learned to hold. And such a simple thing as to lean embroils the very foundations of You in turmoil. 

The piercing necessity of acquiring this ability is exactly relative to our sense of need, and so, we experience varying levels of this controversy throughout life in proportion to the gravity of what life brings our way and our natural ability to adapt to it. It is where the deficit in our natural ability falls deepest that we really begin to see past the shallows of what we are into the depths what we are not. In this place it is a step out in the suffocating dark to lean. 

In that place the helps and kindnesses of man are merely distant echoes above in the shallows. We would soon see hope wither, the mind tear apart in the terrible dichotomy of fear versus want . . . unless we knew One that dwelled at these depths, and indeed has gone deeper into the painful paradoxes of life than any man ever could. 
And where all other voices fail and fall away ere they reach you, His speaks clear and strong even in the deep places of the earth, yes even in hell itself - He is there. 
Jesus Christ commands hope, even in the conflicted deeps of your soul and His word is "like a firm grasp of the hand." Lifting You out and taking your place; and it is not you who live, it is not you who decide, it is not you who fear, it is Christ who lives in You, the hope of glory; Who lives and moves and has His being in the place you are unequal to, who stands in your gap, in your gaping lack "with His real, with His sweet . . . amazing grace." 

You forgot He wants to take your place. He wants you to flee from even your self and its deficiencies and hide in Him - to lean and not be afraid, to lean on His mercy and be wrapped in His loving-kindess, to lean on Him forever: for in Him only is everlasting strength. 

"What time I am afraid, I will lean on Thee." Psalm 56:3

Awakening by Sara Groves  

"He's not asking me to change in my joy for martyrdom 
He's asking to take my place
To stand in the gap that I have formed 
With His real, and His sweet, and His real amazing grace. 
And it's not just a sign or a sacrament 
It's not just a metaphor for love 
The blood is real and it's not just a symbol of
The blood is real and it's not just a symbol of
His blood is real and it's not just a symbol of 
Your faith. 

So leave out the thee and thou and speak now."

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   Amy Carmichael   music   the gospel  

Comments [0]

May 21, 2009

Be Thou my Abishai

I have been reading Thou Givest, They Gather by Amy Carmichael as part of my devotions lately and while each reading regularly opens up a treasure mine of breathtaking comfort and sustenance the latest chapter That Thou Mightest War a Good Warfare has shone like a blazing gem for me and proved afresh the truth of Heb 4:12; "For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."


On a particularly difficult day this week I opened at these readings…


2 Sam 23:9-12 
Have you ever felt, "I have had enough of fighting, I want a lull; I want peace from turmoil"? If so, read this story about Eleazar, one of David's mighty men, who, when he was left alone (for the men of Israel had gone away), arose and fought "until his hand was weary, and…clave unto his sword" (he was too tired to do anything but just hold on). Read also of Shammah, another warrior, who when the Philistines were gathered together into a troop and the people fled, stood in the midst of a field of lentils and defended it, "and the Lord wrought a great victory." 

It is true that there are battles of the spirit that must be fought and won alone, within. But it is also true that we have our Lord. Many of us do not have to fight alone even as to outward help; we have comrades who never desert us in a hard place: so we are far better off than either of those two men. Let it be written in the Book of the Wars of the Lord about each one of us as it was of Shammah, But he stood.

"But he stood"–O let the words
Strengthen us in strong temptation
Thou who art the God who girds
Soldier-souls for their vocation
Gird us now that we may stand
Strengthened by Thy mighty hand


2 Sam 21:15-16: And David waxed faint. And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, . . . thought to have slain David.

Ishbi-benob, the son of a giant, and probably a giant himself, has been giving me a great deal to think about lately, for he is such a particularly disagreeable creature. He always chooses a time when people are tired, and then he attacks them furiously. So I do not like Ishbi-benob. To begin with, he is a deceiver. His name means The dweller in the mount. He does not dwel there. His home is that deep abyss which we call Hell. But he comes as an angel of light, and he whispers texts sometimes, and suggests thoughts that sound humble. ("I am no use. I cannot do this work. I am a failure.") Very soon he has the poor soul he is attacking at his mercy. It was faint to begin with. It gives way unless, unless, it has an Abishai at hand. "But Abishai succoured him [David], and smote the Philistine, and killed him." v.17.

Perhaps none of the particular remarks mentioned as being the giant's favourite whispers have been tried on you. No matter. "He being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David." He has plenty of new things to say, and He will say what he knows will cut deepest. His new sword is very sharp. 

Moreover, the soul he is attacking is the soul of a soldier, not a slacker. "David went down…and fought…and David waxed faint." Whatever the weapon used, it is sure to be one which a soldier justly fears - not a little switch knife, but a new sword. It is very foolish to make little of the sword of Ishbi-benob. Paul did not. He never belittled his spiritual enemies. But he never contemplated being overcome. He had his glorious Abishai, and he counted upon Him. Abishai means, Source of Wealth. What do I need - I, who am faint with long fighting - what is my need at this moment? "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:19) Need of succour, need of protection, need of strength, need of courage, need of new hope, need of eternal joy - our Source of all wealth is close at hand. "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." (Rom 8:37)

"And David spake unto the Lord the words of his song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies: . . . The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Saviour. Thou savest me from violence." (2 Sam 22:1-3) Abishai will not fail me. No, never. Let us speak unto the Lord the words of some song of joy and confidence. "I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies." And blessed be my Abishai; for He will never fail me nor forsake me. 


Heb 11:34: Out of weakness were made strong

Here is another word of life and joy, and then immediately follows the warrior word, waxed valiant in fight. Moffat has 'proved valiant,' as though to suggest the thought of a test which proved the reality of the strength; and Way has it delightfully thus: Were out of frailty made strong, became suddenly resistless in battle. 

Have we not all known that sudden clear deliverance from paralyzing weakness; that sense of wings that lifts the soul out of the mud and the dust and the dullness; that which is meant by 'became suddenly resistless in battle'? For the dark powers recognize that touch of the Lord of life on the soul they hoped to overwhelm, and they draw off. 

Were out of frailty made strong, became suddenly resistless in battle. 

When I called upon Thee, Thou heardest me, and enduest my soul with much strength. Ps 138:3 PBV 

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   amy carmichael   books   the gospel  

Comments [0]