A Life in Exile

As another year ends and a new begins, December 31, 2023, brought the last of my readings from the devotional classic, My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. I sighed as I completed the book for the umpteenth time. It is one of the few devotional books I ever read, and I probably have more lines underlined than not, as each reading brings new insights from this man of God and mission.

I have had this copy of Chambers’s book since at least 1986, so that’s 38 years. This book has crossed oceans and national borders, been chewed by my roommate’s dog during my seminary years, and stuffed with tickets from the wonders of Egypt, as it traveled with me when my sister was visiting us there. For all its rattiness and teeth marks, I cannot give it up. While I’ve bought family and friends much nicer and newer copies, I hold mine close.

I’m devoted to my devotional.

Oswald Chambers holds a special place in my heart for several reasons. He was obviously a man of God’s Word and poured his energies into teaching and training others to be the same. Along with his depth of thought and teaching, it is his connection to my beloved Egypt that draws me ever to him. With the outbreak of World War I, Chambers desired to minister among the British forces. He found his calling in the move to Egypt, where he served from the fall of 1915 until his death in November 1917. He lived among troops in Zeitoun, where my husband would be born in 1946, and also in Ismailia.

The inscription on his gravesite in the War Memorial cemetery in Cairo, reads:
Reverend Oswald Chambers
Superintendent Y.M.C.A.
15th November 1917 Age 43
Believer in Jesus Christ
Luke 11:13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

A team in ministry.

I am also drawn to Chambers’s work for one reason—we would not have it without his wife, Gertrude Annie Hobbs Chambers. He called her “Biddy” (from B.D., short for “Beloved Disciple). After his death, this single mother began to pull together all the notes she had taken during his sermons as well as his papers. We would not have the classic devotional without her, and she has been an inspiration to me for decades. Not only was she willing to serve by her husband’s side in the hard places but she ensured that his preaching and teaching on the Word of God would continue to influence for generations to come long after he was gone from this world.

A devotional that leads to devotion.

What draws me back to Chambers time and again is the way he draws me out of myself to the Lord. I think this is the reason I find few other devotionals that satisfy. In the desert places come the richest of feasts, and Chambers understood, in the midst of war, sand, and the desert sun of Egypt, that only God can satisfy. He constantly turned his students to the Word and to the depths of God’s love and care. He was poured out for Christ and he taught us how to desire the same.

The ”Beloved Disciple” records her husband’s words in the December 27th reading that summarize it all:

If I say, “I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put God to the test,” I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled between myself and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won. This is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God—My Utmost for His Highest.

Where does your devotion lie?
Grace and Peace

Check out these two posts with wisdom from Oswald Chambers: The Purpose of Discipleship and Loss of Focus.