In August 1914, when Britain entered World War I, Oswald Chambers was 40
years old with a wife and a 1-year-old daughter. It wasn’t long before men were
joining the army at the rate of 30,000 a day, people were asked to sell their
automobiles and farm horses to the government, and lists of the dead and
wounded began appearing in daily newspapers. The nation faced economic
uncertainty and peril.
A month into the war, Chambers spoke of the spiritual challenge facing
followers of Christ: “We must take heed that in the present calamities, when
war and devastation and heart-break are abroad in the world, we do not shut
ourselves up in a world of our own and ignore the demand made on us by our Lord
and our fellowmen for the service of intercessory prayer and hospitality and
care.”
God’s call to His people rings true in every age: “If you extend your
soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn
in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday” (Isa. 58:10).
Fear causes us to grasp what we have; faith in God opens our hands and
hearts to others. We walk in His light when we help others, not hoard for
ourselves.
As God’s love grows in us, His love flows from us. (RBC)
