Oswald Chambers

Oswald Chambers died in 1917 at age 43 of complications from a ruptured appendix.  At the time of his death he was giving spiritual support to wartime soldiers.   Knowing the impact that his ministry has had almost a hundred years after his death is to be caused to think, "If only he had lived longer...He died so young."   Yet, it is hard to imagine how his life and unswerving faith in Christ could have a greater impact than it does through his writings, particularly, the devotional writing, My Utmost for His Highest."

 

Actually, the devotional book was compiled and edited by his wife, a great woman of faith he called Biddy.  She had an amazing gift as a stenographer and wrote down so many of his lectures and teachings at the Bible College in London and his messages to the soldiers in Egypt.  Had Chambers lived, it is likely we would have missed out on My Utmost for His Highest.  I recently read a biography of Chambers written by David McCasland.  One of the notes that someone wrote on the jacket speaks so well of my thoughts after reading the book.  "For years I have used Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest.  In this biography I see where that depth of input was born and developed."

 

To this comment, I offer a heartfelt "Amen!"  Throughout the devotional Chambers talks about abandonment of self for Christ, about the cost of following Jesus, and about God's call to absolutely dependent upon Him for every part of life.  To read the book is to see one example after another of how this was fleshed out in this man of extraordinary faith.  Reading it also enables us to see that His remarkable life was like ours, a journey full of failures, start overs, but still one that pursued the call to live a holy life.  Would that there were more people like Oswald Chambers.  Would that we were one of them.