Manifold Temptations and Manifold Grace
Manifold Temptations and Manifold Grace
By Amy Carmichael
September 11, 2008
"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations" (1 Peter 1:6, KJV).
"As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10)
The word "manifold" can be translated "many-coloured."[1] For every temptation there is grace. This is the practical way to use the truth shown in the vision of the Horns and Carpenters.[2] God knows our many-coloured temptations. He has many-coloured grace to meet them--a colour of grace for each temptation of evil. Will you try this plan? Pray instantly for the opposite grace to the temptation that attacks you. There is a carpenter for each horn.
What is your temptation today? To despondency? cowardice? unlove? impatience? self-love? Temptations can be manifold. But pouring upon our souls is the sunlight of the grace of God, the many-folded, many-coloured grace:
"But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Eph. 4:7).
We can take the grace we need: peacefulness that is happiness, courage that is victory, love that never loses hope, patience that is long-suffering with joyfulness, discipline--that says "No" to self.
There is something beyond our understanding in the way our wonderful God makes it possible for us to be that which naturally we are not. But let us leave all that, and in simple faith take His many-coloured grace, "grace to help in time of need," "according to the measure of the gift of Christ," and that is immeasurable.
"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1] Greek term, poikilos, adjective. Meaning: 1) a various colours, variegated 2) of various sorts [Thayer]. Used 10 times in the New Testament, including 1 Pet. 1:6; 4:10; James 1:2; Heb. 2:4.
[2] A allusion to Zechariah 1:18-21: "Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns. And I said to the angel who talked with me, 'What are these?' So he answered me, 'These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.' Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. And I said, 'What are these coming to do?' So he said, 'These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.' " The primary reference is to God's promise to judge the nations that have oppressed His people.
1 Peter 1:6; 4:10; Ephesians 4.7 and Hebrews 4:16 were referenced in the book, but quoted here.
Amy Carmichael, Edges of His Ways (Christian Literature Crusade, 1955), 124.
Footnotes - JBW
"AMY WILSON CARMICHAEL (1867–1951) Missionary to India; founder of the Dohnavur Fellowship, a society devoted to saving neglected and ill-treated children. Amy Carmichael was born into a strong Presbyterian home in northern Ireland. The oldest of seven children, she was thrust into early maturity by the death of her father. She was adopted and tutored by Robert Wilson, cofounder of the Keswick Convention, and through his influence she became the first missionary supported by the Keswick Missions Committee. After fifteen months in Japan, Amy Carmichael arrived in India in 1895 under the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. She served in India for fifty-six years without a furlough. The children of India, especially those who were to be dedicated as temple prostitutes, became the focus of her efforts. From it arose in 1901 the Dohnavur Fellowship, with more than one thousand children in three homes, a hospital, and evangelistic work. Because of her devotion to these children, Amy was known as "Amma" ("mother" in the Tamil language). "Carmichael was a prolific writer, producing thirty-five published books including His Thoughts Said ... His Father Said (1951), If (1953), and Edges of His Ways (1955). Best known, perhaps, is an early historical account, Things as They Are: Mission Work in Southern India (1903). The book's frankness stunned a Christian public accustomed to "victory stories" from missionaries. In 1931 Miss Carmichael was badly injured in a fall, which left her bedridden much of the time until her death. She remained in India, however, and continued to write devotional books and poetry." - M. FACKLER, Who's Who In Christian History (Tyndale House Publishers).
Grace Notes edition Scripture quotations are from The New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
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