I've just started listening to an audiobook biography on the life of Oswald Chambers called Oswald Chambers: Abandoned To God. You can get it for free here for the month of January. I'm aware of Chambers' devotional book, My Utmost For His Highest, but that's all I knew about him. I'm looking forward to hearing the story of his short, but well-respected life.
Listening to the first half-hour of the book, there was one quote that caught my attention. Chambers and his wife were having a conversation about a friend who was deathly ill. His wife asked, "What do you think God will do." Chambers response was, "I don't care what God does, it's what God is that I care about." It is explained that Chambers wasn't being callous or uncaring. His was a statement about the character of God. Unlike man, we can't put God in a box. We can't always understand how or why He does what He does in our lives and lives of those we love. God's ways often seem to us like He doesn't hear or He doesn't care. In fact, people have stopped believing because of what God does or does not do that is different than they expect. Chambers is saying what we need to hold on to in times like this. It doesn't matter if we understand what God does. It does matter if we understand who God is. It matters that we trust in His love and care as well as His sovereignty, wisdom, omniscience and so on. God certainly does act out of who He is. He is consistent with Himself, but we usually can't see the bigger picture to know what God knows. In difficult times of stress when I am prone to doubt, I hope someone reminds me of who God is.
Grace and peace,
Dave
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