Analytical and Critical

Well, I’m not sure how much longer we’re going to stick with Oswald Chambers. He’s starting to annoy us a little bit. (Hopefully this won’t totally offend the Chambers admirers out there – and I know there are plenty.) We’ve had several “issues” with Chambers since we began reading his devotional several weeks ago. First of all, there are many times when we either can’t understand what he’s trying to say or get annoyed at the creative license he takes with the scripture verses he uses. I realize that a lot of people think he’s a great intellectual – but I wonder how often “flowery language” is mistaken for “profound insight.” It’s almost like Chambers thinks to himself, “Hey, I have a great inspiration on this topic. Let me try and find a scripture verse I can use as a springboard to share my thoughts with the world.”

The other day (Dec. 15), for instance, Chambers uses 2 Tim. 2:15, “Study to show thyself approved unto God,” to say that “If you cannot express yourself on any subject, struggle until you can.” I don’t know how on earth he got man’s need to express his inner self from a verse on studying God’s word so that we may rightly understand Truth.

Also, he often uses unclear terms like the “natural man.” Now, I can assume (because I’ve been going to Sunday School all my life) what that means – but since he never defines it, it’s a guessing game. Then he further confuses me by saying things like “the natural life is not sinful” but the natural life must be “sacrificed.” Hmmm.

And then there are times when we completely disagree with what he says. For instance, his Dec. 17 devotional is entitled “Redemption Creates the Need It Satisfies.” In this entry, Chambers says: “God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He withholds, but that that is the way He has constituted things on the basis of Redemption. By means of our asking, God gets processes into work whereby He creates the thing that is not in existence until we do ask.” Um, excuse me, but I don’t think that the Apostle Paul, on his way to persecute Christians, had the time (or the inclination!) to think, “Gee, I’d better take a moment here to ASK Christ into my heart as my Savior,” before he was struck with the blinding light of Redemption. Chambers’ view of God is not only weak, it is entirely inaccurate. Christ came to seek and save His people. He did not come to TRY to seek and save His people. John 15:16 says “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” The truth is that, before Redemption occurs, sinners are DEAD in their sins. (Eph. 2:1) We are incapable of “asking” until the Holy Spirit comes and softens our hearts. Praise God for his saving mercy!

Is God a grandfatherly figure calling out to a bunch of dumb sheep to come to Him? Or is He sovereign, in control, and willing and able to save His people? Your basic view of who God is will change your worldview entirely. And, from what we’ve read so far from My Utmost for His Highest, our worldviews tend to clash with Oswald Chambers’.

It could be that we’re just too analytical for our own good. But, then again, I think it’s better to have our brains in gear than it is to blindly accept anything and everything that a “great Christian man” decides to publish in a book.