Oswald Chambers: The Man and the Message Behind My Utmost for His Highest

Two weeks ago I decided to pick up this book after reading Justin Buzzard's blog on the Gospel Coalition site. The article was about Oswald Chambers and the crisis of faith we sometimes face during our twenties, and it made me want to learn more about this man of many talents. Lambert's biography is part of the Men of Faith Series produced by Bethany House Publishers in Minneapolis. This particular book is actually a revision of a concise biography called An Unbribed Soul. Oswald Chambers was published almost forty years ago, and the 120 pages will take you no time to read. You will be given a glimpse into the man and the message behind My Utmost For His Highest. My only knock against the book is the book cover. The artwork reminds me a lot of the Great Live Series by Chuck Swindoll. The books look more like books for elementary students when that is not the case at all. Despite the cover, I would recommend this book if you are looking for a simple introduction to one of the most beloved Christian teachers of our time.

Oswald Chambers packed a lot of living in his short live span, i.e., 43 years. One contemporary described him as a "preacher, teacher, artist, humorist, philosopher, and poet." He lived out the well-examined life. This life-long student traveled extensively and read eclectically. Jim Reimann points out that since Chambers believed that God engineered our circumstances, he accomplished his designated tasks and lived until he completed his mission. The phrase "divine completion" is used to note the closure Chambers attained before departing this life. Two nuisances that did not diffuse his energy were worry and criticism. He frequently refocused and cast down those distractions by two pithy reminders to himself: "I refuse to worry." "Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come." It seems he had a premonition of what was in store for him as he recorded early in his journal, "I feel I shall be buried for a time, hidden away in obscurity; then suddenly I shall flame out, do my work, and be gone." Chambers gained friends from numerous countries in his international travels. Like Louis L'Amour he coupled traveling with reading and learned through both means. His love of books is captured in a letter to his sister, written from a Holiness campmeeting in the USA: "My box has at last arrived. My books! I cannot tell you what they are to me--silent, wealthy, loyal lovers. To look at them, to handle them, and to reread them! I do thank God for my books with every fiber of my being. Friends that are ever true and ever your own. Why, I could have almost cried for excess of joy when I got hold of them again. I see them all just at my elbow now--Plato, Wordsworth, Myers, Bradley, Halyburton, St. Augustine, Browning, Tennyson, Amid, etc. I know them; I wish you could see how they look at me, a quiet calm look of certain acquaintance." (p. 70) Chambers studied the Bible on a constant basis. He was an intercessory prayer warrior who built his intercession on his relationship with Jesus Christ. As a missionary based in Egypt during WWI he confronted tragedy daily and ministered to men faced with death every day. He lived a pracitcal faith, a faith based on reality, but with a fully engaged mind. He was well able to give an answer for the hope that resided within him.