Oswald Chambers ~ Early years

~~~~~~~~~~~Many years later his friend George Oxer reflected on this period of Chambers’ life:“I knew him through the crisis of some of the great renouncements which put so much of the tugs and triumphs into his early life. While it remains true that his soul alone held the secrets of experience, the fighting quality that was ever in him is the heritage of everyone he touched at all intimately. There was not much doubt or mysticism in the definite impact of courage and grace in his hand grips and soul grips.“The friend I remember travelling to the Art School at Kensington, and later to the College at Dunoon, was the Oswald Chambers of early days—days of soul travail and delivery reflective of Paul’s dualism of the 7th Romans.“The posthumous published literature reproducing his specialized and Spirit-filled ministry, portrays the fisher of men, the man of God thoroughly furnished, the vessel unto honor, meet for the Master’s use.“My memory is keener concerning some of the boats of his natural ambitions God deliberately cut adrift, some of the ordained derelictions. In many a letter of those days his experience was reflected in one of his favourite quotations therein-That life is not as idle ore,But iron dug from central gloom,And heated hot with burning fears,And dipt in baths of hissing tears,And batter’d with the shocks of doomTo shape and use.“There is generally an unrecorded background to the pathway of full and glad surrender. The clinching ‘Yea’ may come in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and yet have travelled all unknown throughout the labyrinthine ways in which the mind has fled Him. Thus I believe was the ‘fullness of the spirit’ in Oswald Chambers linked to the ‘distresses’ of the days of our comradeship.“I write this for the guidance and encouragement of any who may think that Oswald Chambers had an a easy passage to the heights God took him. The measure of the valley is the height of the mountain. My friend’s soul was a lone rough rider passing through the wilderness to his Canaan, oft-times launching on his intimates at home and the social circle the unexpected and unexplained.“Consistency was ‘the hobgoblin of little minds’ to him. The so-called practical side of life had little attraction. Art and Poetry gripped him deeply, in and through all this his great spirit marched on to a certain time of which he wrote—There comes a mist and a blinding rainAnd life is never the same again.“In that ‘mist’ our ways somewhat parted. The aftermath of the clear shining is evident and will be recorded by other pens. But he was a great chum. He lives in God today, and in my life, made better by his presence.“I pen this tribute as one who touched him in the De Profundis and for the enunciation of his soul’s service in the hidden years.”Chambers, O. 1958; 2002. Abandoned to God. Marshall Morgan and Scott

A side trail...In another thread, Philologo's had linked to; My Utmost for His Highest In the same thread the following was stated;I have just discovered something about the electronic version of My Utmost. The one of the official site is not the same as the original 1927. The one on the site shows signs of 'improvement' of the original Chambers. It might be good to check out the originals at times.Will go out on a limb and liken that to the idea that there have been 'improvement's' made, as in 'attempted'... Personally, am at a loss and think it is a loss, why do this? Why the compelling to 'modernize' everything? It's not like this is difficult to understand in it's original format. After reading the following this morning and comparing it to the link above just felt that... something got lost in the translation. I didn't know this either, these different 'versions'. Try the comparison, maybe it's just me...January 13thHave you ever been alone with God?When He was alone, the twelve . . . asked of Him . . . Mark 4:10.His Solitude with us. When God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new friendship—when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded and cannot ask one question, then He begins to expound. Watch Jesus Christ’s training of the twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were perplexed. They constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly expounded things to them; but they only understood after they had received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).If you are going on with God, the only thing that is clear to you, and the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul. Your brother’s sorrows and perplexities are an absolute confusion to you. We imagine we understand where the other person is, until God gives us a dose of the plague of our own hearts. There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now, or are we taken up with little fussy notions, fussy comradeships in God’s service, fussy ideas about our bodies? Jesus can expound nothing until we get through all the noisy questions of the head and are alone with Him.Chambers, O. 1993, c1935. My utmost for his highest (The original thread... https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=3314&forum=45&0)

I don't mean to get too off track here but i read Abandoned to God this last summer and was so blessed by it! I know a while back I had commented on some of it and I found the old thread which i will copy below. I recommend it wholeheartedly!!!!!!!!!------I thought this was so neat, to see the deepness of his spirituality at the age of 16."Oswald began attending weekly prayer meetings, but it was sometime before he took part in praying aloud. "His prayers at first were crude, just a sentence or two, but they were expressions which laid hold of one. More than once I heard him say , 'O LORD, DRENCH US WITH HUMILITY', a great prayer for one so young."I think I got more out of reading his personal letters to friends- because it showed that he really lived what he taught. Here are a few excerpts:At Dunoon College: "My lodgings are really Home. I'm quite a son and am perfectly comfortable. It's grand because I can devote my time to study. I do not know any of the students, I live by myself, in myself, and to myself, that ultimately I may be ALL FOR OTHERS AND MY MASTER."To a friend: "You ask a question about the baptism of the Holy Ghost- did I get there all at once, or easily? No, I did not. Pride and the possession of the high esteem of many Christian frineds kept me out for long enough. But immediately I was willing to sacrifice all and put myself on the Altar, which is Jesus Himself, all was begun and done.Holiness is not an attainment at all, it is the gift of God, and the pietistic tendency is the introspection which makes me worship my own earnestness and not take the Lord seriously at all. It is a pious fraud that suits the natural man immensely. HE makes holy, HE sanctifies, HE does all. All I have to do is come as a spiritual pauper, not ashamed to beg, to let go of my right to myself and act on Romans 12:1-2. It is never 'Do, do and you'll be' with the Lord, but 'Be, be and I will do through you'. It is a case of 'hands up' and letting go, and then entire reliance on Him."To a friend: "I am staying with a family of Quakers and it is all 'thee' and 'thou' and 'thy'...These saints have had experiences, as I have, of two distinct works of grace, and I find the bonds of the Spirit are closer than anything I have ever known before."Just now I hear Mr. Kimber calling 'Sophie,' she is a saved and sanctified Negress of about 60, simply shining with the beauty of the Lord. She came up to me the first day I was here and said, 'I love thee, thou'st brought heaven with thee.' These black people are gems...and so enthusiastic. They laugh and shout'Glory' and interrupt the preacher to tell the audience an incident they think illustrates the point--GLORIOUSLY UNCONVENTIONAL."

Looking for something else came across this again.I don't mean to get too off track here but i read Abandoned to God this last summer and was so blessed by it! I know a while back I had commented on some of it and I found the old thread which i will copy below. I recommend it wholeheartedly!!!!!!!!!Indeed! Still am reading it through and the remarkable thing is the gut level honesty and realism of the man. Have been hesitant to bring this snippet out, probably for the same reasons the author hesitated originally. But it gave me such a laugh ...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On August 6 Oswald accompanied Kilbourne and Nakada to a missionary convention at Karuizawa. “This place is a summer resort for missionaries,” Chambers recorded, “and the convention is held in the little wooden Episcopal Church.” One diary entry continues with a candid account of his reactions:Today I met [a group of people] I am not at all drawn to. There is the stamp of the effeminate and sanctimonious about them which is languid. They carry large Bibles and speak in extravagant terms of ‘such a lovely man, a sweet man of God, dearly beloved brother so and so.’ To put it in rugged language it is enough to make a fellow ‘puke.’~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~While getting a kick out of that, would note that this is further revealed as follows and the hesitancy... :[One man]* gave a Bible reading on ‘The Lord for the body,’ mildly apologetic and very diffident—‘Really, don’t you know, it would be such a savour to the Lord Jesus if you were to be sanctified,’ this said with clasped hands and a sweet inoffensive smile and then you have a faint impression of this ambassador of the King of Heaven to men and women entirely in danger of becoming children of the Devil.Mantle [another missionary] followed after, splendid, strong and grand on the same subject. I felt enlarged and uplifted, God certainly spoke through him.[Some of these missionaries]* are afraid of the Oriental Bible School and its strong advocacy of holiness, uncompromising and manly. It is amazingly interesting to see all this from a spectator’s point of view, and am sure God must enjoy and pity it. Oh, He’ll forgive them, for there’s nothing much to punish. Had a very good talk with Mantle. What must he think? It is strange if he does not pity these unsexed namby pambyists."The page on which these words appear reveals inner thoughts Chambers would never have spoken in public or private. He was not a Pollyanna, nor was he a spiritual ostrich with his head buried in the sand of ignorance or fear. Yet his diary at this time was a personal journal of thoughts, observations, and reactions, not intended for the eyes of others.Clearly, Oswald had no use for religious phraseology used merely out of habit, or for any Christian message delivered in an uncertain or whiny tone. He would rather hear a fiery heretic than what he considered a weak-kneed presentation of the gospel. He preferred the “dynamite” of God."Chambers, O. 1958; 2002. Abandoned to God. Marshall Morgan and Scott

Hey, so glad to hear that you're reading Abandoned to God. I had recommended it in some other thread at one time or another. Time and time again I find myself thinking, "Oh, I know just what you mean!" Oswald Chambers is definitely one of my favorite authors and one of my heroes (a very real, flesh-and-bones hero as you will see in the book). I would even name one of my kids after him if he didn't have such an awful name... Oh well, no one can have it all. :)

With some of Mike's quotes in mind, I remember how much the book brought Chambers to life for me. He was such a normal guy in many ways- with humor and love for children, etc...It's nice to see the man behind the devotions and books- to see what kind of life he led and what kind of man he was.Sometimes when you read or hear teachings, you have to wonder if they are the real deal. If they live up to their teachings. It seems that Chambers did!In Him, chanin

Without a doubt my thanks to you both Chanin and Phebe. There were others as well that brought this up over the passing months here.In fact it was Chanin and others who had mentioned that they had 'The Complete Works' of Oswald Chambers on CD and it was on my wish list for a long time. What I didn't realize was that the CD came with the book and while containing everything within the book on CD as well, this particular book is not (Abandoned To God). So I printed it out off the CD after the many mentions here. This is just a treasure and couldn't recommend it more highly.Shortly after logging off this morning was again stunned reading the following and as Phebe put it;Time and time again I find myself thinking, "Oh, I know just what you mean!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~December 1—Dublin:I sound so stern and definite but He knows too the compassion for men and women, compassion for His sake.If I could only tell Him as I know him! I see heartbreaks all around and I know He can put it all right, but how to get them there, how to tell them, how to persuade them.From Portrush, on the far north coast of Northern Ireland, he wrote on December 6:I feel as if I must go out and see the sea once more. This great power and groan of the mighty sea seems to awaken that longing loneliness of the prophet about me for God. I am filled with joy always but a tremendous sorrow seems to be interwoven with it all.The wind is out mightily tonight and I feel so sure the gales of the Spirit are blowing over me and conveying something to me—what, I do not distinguish yet. It holds me strangely alert. I wish I could catch its meaning but I cannot, yet I think I must be not spiritual enough to detect it.Chambers, O. 1958All of this and the bold above, that just...It's that crying on the inside, mingled with it all.