Who Wrote My Utmost for His Highest and How? Part II

Biddy Chambers; photo courtesy Wheaton College Library Special Collections

The well-loved devotional My Utmost for His Highest was first published in 1927–and has never been out of print since.

Part 1 examined where the ideas and writing came from, but how was the devotional written if Oswald Chambers died in 1917?

Through the hard work of a devout and determined woman, of course.

After Oswald Chamber’s unexpected 1917 death in Egypt, Biddy and her pre-school-aged daughter Kathleen stayed on at the YMCA encampment at Zeitoun–to finish out the work Oswald, OC, had begun in 1915.

As noted last time, OC had always envisioned a literary partnership between his writing and his wife’s exemplary shorthand skills. By the time of her return to England, Biddy already had been involved in a variety of projects using OC’s work. The first, Baffled to Fight Better, had been provided to any who wanted it at YMCA canteens in Egypt and France.

OC’s thoughts on the book of Job found resonance in the hearts of soldiers battle weary and questioning the point of the ghastly war. Biddy began to produce pamphlets of OC’s sermons on a monthly basis– always given away for free. Some 10,000 copies a month were produced by the end of the war. The YMCA eventually took responsibility for the pamphlets–which were available in all the war theaters through the YMCA canteens.

England

Biddy and Kathleen returned home to England in the summer of 1919,  following the conclusion of World War I. She had arranged for the publication of five books and many pamphlets of OC’s talks by that time.

In England, Biddy set to work transcribing her massive amount of shorthanded notes into readable typing. She entertained many visitors who wanted her to continue publishing OC’s messages. Many sent monetary gifts, “for the work of the books.”

All monies that came in were used to print more projects. According to David McCasland in Oswald Chambers: Abandoned for God, Biddy took no payment for herself and Kathleen.

The task was clear. Biddy wrote her sister, “I’ll never come to an end of my wealth of notes.”

They lived with family or friends and eventually moved to Oxford, England, where Biddy’s typing continued and Kathleen went to school.

Biddy’s typewriter

Biddy ran a boarding house for students, cared for her child and typed in a basement room. She had frequent visitors, and cheerfully made time to sit with each–brewing interminable pots of tea, Kathleen said.

According to McCasland:

“In 1924 Shade of His Hand, Oswald’s last talks at Zeitoun, was published by Alden and Company in Oxford. Biddy appreciated their fine work and mentioned to them that she was working on a new book, a collection of daily readings gleaned from all of Oswald’s talks. ‘When you have it ready,’ they said, ‘we’d like to see it.’

The problem was getting it ready. She needed 365 portions, each on a single theme, each complete in itself and not more than 500 words long. Before she could make the selections, there were hundreds of talks she must transform from verbatim shorthand notes into typed copy.”

In the 1933 preface to Oswald Chambers: His Life and Work, Biddy wrote about where the ideas to put together her husband’s books came from:

“The outstanding thing on looking back is the God-given initiative for each publication–whether a book of lectures, calendar or leaflet, or Daily Readings.”

McCasland wrote about the task for Biddy personally:

“A key element is Biddy’s familiarity with the material, i.e. Oswald’s spoken words.  She heard the sermons and lectures; she recorded them verbatim in Pitman shorthand, just as a court stenographer would record legal proceedings in a hearing or trial; she reread the shorthand notes; she transcribed the shorthand notes into words by typing them; she reread what she had typed.

“She shaped the spoken words into a written presentation.  She often created an Utmost daily reading from 2-3 different messages.  Did she omit some things?  Probably.  Did she create and add sentences of her own?  I don’t think so.  She wouldn’t see a need to do that.

“It was a labor of love and she had no idea how it would be received.  Why did she do it?  Her prime motivation is likely revealed in her dedication of My Utmost,  TO THE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE TRAINING COLLEGE,

“For His Name’s sake they went forth . . . “

            “Witnesses unto Me . . . unto the

               uttermost part of the earth.”

English: Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It took her three years to complete the book.  According to the original preface to My Utmost for His Highest:

“a large proportion of the readings have been chosen from the talks given during the devotional hour at the college [Bible Training College; London 1911-1915]–an hour which for many of the students marked an epoch in their life with God. . . .

“this book has been prepared, and it is sent out with the prayer that day by day the messages may continue to bring the quickening life and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”

She signed the preface: “B.C.” rather than Gertrude Chambers.

Biddy produced some thirty volumes of OC’s teachings over the course of her life (she died in 1966), but never took credit for the work or signed her name.

Oswald Chambers’ name always went on the cover.

The title for the devotional is found in the first paragraph of the first reading, January 1:

“My eager desire and hope being that I may never feel ashamed.” We shall all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus on the point He has asked us to yield to Him. Paul says – “My determination is to be my utmost for His Highest.”

By 2015, countless editions of My Utmost for His Highest have been published (I have four editions in my office) into at least 30 languages.

I read it daily on line at www.utmost.org

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