On December 5, 1917, the League of Prayer's Wednesday evening meeting at Caxton Hall, Westminster, was set apart as a memorial service for Chambers. After tributes from League members and friends, Oswald's eldest brother , Arthur, took the podium.
He described Oswald as a "young hero of the Cross " and likened him to Barnabas--"a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith "(Acts11:24).
"Oswald was a man with an energetic, inspiring personality," Arthur said. "Once started in any direction, he quickly outpaced his teachers. I persuaded him to pray his first in a prayer meeting, but he soon passed me by and became a master in intercession.
"He was full of the Holy Ghost and that was the secret of his happy service. He was absolutely free from worry, living what he liked to call a 'a restlessly restful life.'
"Oswald was a good man with no value for mere money or personal advantage. He would give away to all who asked. He had no use for those who sought to make much of him instead of the message he had to bring.
"He was full of faith. How well I remember his return in 1907 from a round-the-world trip on which he felt called to go. He threw down half-a-crown and said,"There, I've been round the world, all found, on no-pence a week, and have half-a-crown left." On the first leg of that voyage,aboard the S.S. Baltic, he told me he had spoken on spiritual things to every one of the 1,300 people on board, from the captain to the boy in the stokehold.
" Much people was added to the Lord' sums up the result of his life. His one aim was to be 'broken bread and poured out wine' for the Master. Throughout his life, his early mornings were given to prayer for others and receiving the daily anointing which gave him such a skillful touch with souls both here in England and finally in Egypt."
That should have been the end of it. Oswald Chambers was only one of a hundreds of thousands of British men who died during the Great War. We could expect his contemporaries to speak of him from time to time for months or even years, and then the references would fade with the passing of time and his generation.Instead, exactly the opposite has happened. Today, more people know his name and writings than when he was alive.
Long years after Chambers ' death, his words are still on the hearts and on the lips of people around the world. The books that bear his name are read daily by literally millions of people in scores of languages. His messages can be found in print, on audio tapes, calendars, bookmarks, and even refrigerator magnets.
Why the continued interest in the words of a man who was born before automobiles, telephones, and electric lights? Why do his statements sound as if they were written right after he read today's newspapers?
The answer lies both in the message and the man. The two are inseparable. This is the story of them merging into the unique individual whom the world has refused to forget.
It is also the story of the woman standing at his grave in Old Cairo, wondering how she could go on without him.
Her given name was Gertrude, but Oswald always called her Biddy, an affectionate nickname. After Oswald death, she spent the rest of her life giving his words to the world. The result of her self-sacrificing work under very difficult conditions was some fifty books bearing his name, but never mentioning her own.
"When the heart sees what God wants," Oswald use to say, "the body must be willing to spend and be spent for that cause alone."
Both of them saw, they were willing, and they were spent. What follows is the story of their utmost for God's highest.
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