Oswald Chambers

Have you read My Utmost for His Highest? And did you know it was published 10 years after its author died? Today, Stephen Nichols tells the story of Oswald Chambers and his wife Biddy, whose copious notes from Oswald’s sermons turned into more than 50 books.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are talking about Oswald Chambers. He lived from 1874 to 1917, and a book with his name on it has sold over 13 million copies and is in 39 languages. It was first published in 1927. Yes, that is 10 years after his death. His book was actually a joint effort that involved his widow, Gertrude, known as Biddy. She compiled these daily entries for the devotional from his writings, and she drew from, as one source says, “Copious notes she took during his sermons.” So let's take a look at the life of Oswald Chambers, the author of My Utmost for His Highest.

Chambers was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and then the family moved to Perth, and then they moved back to London. His parents had been in London before, and they were both baptized by Charles Hadden Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and at the age of 15, Chambers converted to Christ after hearing a sermon by none other than the aforementioned Charles Hadden Spurgeon. Chambers became very active in Rye Lane Baptist Church, and he wrote poetry and he loved art. He studied art at the Royal College of Art. He specifically felt called to serve God through art and music and poetry.

He went on to study in fine arts at the University of Edinburgh, and it was while he was there and hearing many sermons from Alexander White, regarded as Scotland's preeminent preacher at the time, that Chambers felt called to enter the ministry. As he was finishing his studies, he became connected to the Holiness Movement. This is at the turn of the century, Holiness Movement believed in what's called entire sanctification and spoke of a second blessing after salvation. This was a departure from his father's theological position and the position that Chambers had held up to that time. Chambers then became an itinerant speaker for the Pentecostal League of Prayer. He was very articulate and an excellent communicator, and so he was in quite the demand, preaching up to 10 times a week in these years.

In 1910, he married Gertrude, they honeymooned in the United States, and they extended the stay to speak at various Bible camps and conferences. When they got back to London, he founded a Bible college. Biddy was a trained court stenographer, and she took extensive notes on all of his teaching and on his sermons, and those became two books. Then in 1915, due to World War I, the college closed and Chambers went to Cairo to serve with the YMCA as a chaplain. A little later, his wife and his daughter, who would be their only child, also moved to Cairo, along with some students from the college and served as volunteers. Chambers died in 1917 in Cairo as a result of a blood clot which was a result of surgery from a ruptured appendix.

At the time of his death, he had two books published. By 1966, when Biddy died, there were over 50 books and every single one with his name on it. Biddy devoted her life to getting her copious notes of her husband's sermons and lectures to print. And of course, one of them was My Utmost for His Highest. Here's a few sample quotes from that devotional work: “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything.” He also said, “We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.” And another, “The dearest friend on Earth is a mere shadow compared with Jesus Christ.”

Well, that's the man and the woman behind the 13-million-selling book, and I'm Steve Nichols and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.