In the Presence of His Majesty

Oswald Chambers (1874 to 1917) was a well known Scottish Christian teacher and minister, the author of the popular devotional My Utmost for His Highest. These selections come from his book Run Today's Race and the scripture quotations are from the New International Bible, the New American Standard Bible and the New King's James version. The devotional thoughts are arranged in three sections: Faith, Hope & Love, each of which has an introduction by associate publisher John van Diest. Part one: Faith, is introduced with reference to the definition of faith in the book of Hebrews. Amongst the most moving of Chambers' thoughts is this one: "Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way." The intro to Part two links to Psalm 147 and includes a quote by C S Lewis. Love is the theme of the final section of which the intro includes some observations by Henry Drummond and Richard C Halverson. The text is enhanced by beautiful full-color photographs of nature by Steve Terrill. It is interesting that as a youth Chambers attended services of the famous preacher and writer Charles Spurgeon who was called the prince of preachers, the author of amongst others Being God's Friend and The Treasury of David. The inspirational thoughts in this work of Chambers are focused on the practice of God's presence in everyday life that is enriched by such a devotional attitude. Other books devoted to this subject that I recommend include The Practice of the Presence of God, and The Spiritual Maxims by Brother Lawrence and Practicing the Presence of God for Practical Purposes by Deborah G. Whitehouse and C. Alan Anderson, a book inspired by the work of the great philosopher Alfred North Whitehead.