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[Above: Oswald Chambers Publications Association Meeting Notes, October 15, 1936—Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. / Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections]

Oswald and Biddy Chambers never sought the limelight nor wanted to keep a human enterprise going simply because it seemed to be doing well. As Oswald often said, “When God finishes something, it must be finished.” But their legacy continues to this day, more than a hundred years after Oswald died.

This couple might be surprised to hear that thousands upon thousands of people have read My Utmost for His Highest daily, with over 15 million copies sold and over 30 translations in different languages. They might be startled by the many books about them (with David McCasland’s deeply researched Abandoned to God the definitive biography) and even the release of a new Oswald Chambers Bible. But perhaps they wouldn’t marvel too much over God’s movements, as reflected in My Utmost: “God knows what He desires. The things that happen do not happen by chance—they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes” (August 5).

As recounted elsewhere (see pp. 24–26), My Utmost had an unlikely beginning. That it is so popular today goes against current publishing convention. After all it’s not a feel-good devotional boasting compelling illustrations that capture the reader’s emotions. Nor do its readers always finish it completely in their first encounter! But through it God calls people to center their focus on Jesus. How this devotional continues to bless is a God-honoring story in itself.

HELPING HANDS

Biddy continued to faithfully type, edit, and compile Oswald’s sermons and talks into books—but in the 1930s, the demand for the newly published My Utmost started to overwhelm her. A group of friends gathered to help: Percy Lockhart, best man at their wedding, who chaired the group; Oswald’s sister Gertrude, who had long assisted Biddy with correspondence; Charles Rae Griffin, a publishing friend and colleague; and L. R. S. Clarke, a former soldier from Egypt.

These volunteers helped to shoulder the increasing responsibilities, such as requests for new translations and editions. And when the income outweighed the expenses, they also paid a small salary to Biddy, the rent for her home and her taxes, and a gift for an annual holiday. The group knew that she wouldn’t do this herself as she didn’t want to profit from the books.

For her part, Biddy didn’t hold back from voicing concerns when the discussion became more business-oriented than ministry-focused. For instance when money arrived from foreign translation rights, she’d suggest a recipient on the missions field to receive it. And when the committee queried the number of books given away, she’d remind them that their purpose wasn’t to sell books but to help people. She kept her focus on God and his work.

In 1942 the group became formalized as the Oswald Chambers Publications Association Ltd. (OCPAL). Although any personal links have long since passed, it continues with volunteers who love and appreciate Biddy and Oswald. They act in the role of “author” to deal with publishers and distribute the royalties to Christian colleges and literature projects around the world.

TIMELESS MESSAGE; UPDATED LANGUAGE

Before My Utmost secured Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODBM) as its main publisher, it languished with a New York firm that left royalties unpaid. In the early 1980s, Maurice Garton, then chair of OCPAL, retrieved the rights and called Robert DeVries, publisher of Discovery House (then ODBM’s publishing wing), saying, “I have a Christmas gift for you if you want it . . . the rights to My Utmost.” After much discussion about the ministry’s publishing philosophy, a comment by Margaret DeHaan, wife of ODBM leader, Richard, may have helped its acceptance: “Of course we’re going to publish it! I’ve been reading it for many years.” A fruitful partnership emerged with a nonprofit ministry producing My Utmost, keeping Biddy’s missional outlook as its heartbeat.

Not long after Discovery House released My Utmost, bookseller James Reimann had the idea of updating the beloved devotional, noting words that an American audience had found antiquated or obscure. The updated version appeared in 1992 to grateful readers. 

CONTINUING LEGACY 

Several decades later, around the centenary anniversary of Oswald’s death in 2017, members of OCPAL dreamed about a new edition of My Utmost, one that would retain the heart of the classic edition yet connect with twenty-first-century readers. They enlisted the help of Macy Halford, a former editor at The New Yorker who’d been profoundly affected by Oswald’s works. She sought to combine the approach of Biddy the stenographer, who reproduced her husband’s words just as he spoke them, with Oswald’s way of polishing and editing the few works published in his lifetime. This clarity and readability shines through in the new Modern Classic version, published in 2023, which honors the context of the original sermons and lectures from which Biddy took the excerpts. While updating the language, Halford preserved Oswald’s message and voice.

People continue to read the words of Oswald and Biddy Chambers, often finding God meeting them through “zingers” that go straight to the heart. And the royalties from My Utmost and the other works bless people around the world, chiefly through a collaboration with Media Associates International (MAI), a charity that provides culturally relevant training to help people produce life-transforming Christian content in their heart language. 

Over the decades the royalties have funded, for instance, a new Bible translation in Burkina Faso, children’s literature in the Czech Republic, discipleship works in Colombia, materials for use in prisons around the world, and many other projects. OCPAL has also underwritten the Oswald and Biddy Chambers Author Fund with MAI and the David McCasland Research Fund at Wheaton College.

When we consider the legacy of Oswald and Biddy Chambers, we should perhaps ponder what this couple calls us to—the ways of God: 

We must never confuse our dreams of success with God’s purpose for us. . . . To God, the question of achieving a goal is incidental. . . . God is training us to obey him in the present moment, and to leave all other considerations alone. We have no control over what happens after we obey; we go wrong when we start dwelling on the “afterward.” . . . If we have a further goal in view, we are not paying enough attention to the present. But if we make obedience the goal, we will find that each moment as it comes is precious (July 28). CH 

By Amy Boucher Pye

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