A Place of Repentance

For nearly fifty years now I have been using a daily devotional guide which contains the writings of Oswald Chambers.  The readings which comprise  "My Utmost for His Highest" were put in book form by his wife after his death in Egypt.  As I have become acquainted with the heart and spirit of this man of God, I am sure he never would have thought that he would be remembered and read by so many a hundred years later.  Always this one book has been kept in the place where I draw aside for moments of quietness with God.

 

Oswald Chambers has a way of saying unexpected things that cannot be laid down once the book has been put  back in its place.  A few days ago one of his readings spoke, "Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world.  God plants His saints in the most useless places.  We say--God intends me to be here because I am useful.  Jesus never estimated His life along the line of greatest use.  God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is."  There are times when the words of Chambers are like the Words of God convicting me and showing me who I have been and who I am. 

 

I think about Hudson Taylor in China, or Mother Teresa in India.  I think about Pastor Smith who spends a life long ministry in the midst of a congreation of a few instead of the masses in a mega church.  I think of people in churches across the span of my years who often wondered about their purpose.  I think of the many who our culture would never declare to be a success; yet, who seemed only to be motivated by serving Jesus in the place where they were put.  I think of the many I have known who often seem discontented and looking ahead to another more useful place.  I regret that I have not always seen every place as the place where God thought I could be useful.  When I read Chambers and see myself as I really am, I am even more thankful for divine mercy.