Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) based his life on the unchanging truth that God is love. From his early years in Scotland to his final days as a YMCA chaplain in Egypt during World War I, that truth anchored his soul when circumstances seemed to mock any belief in a loving God.

One British soldier described Chambers as “the personification of the Sherlock Holmes of fiction, tall, erect, virile, with clean-cut face, framing a pair of piercing bright eyes . . . a detective of the soul.” To these men, many whose lives had been shattered by war, he said, “Faith in God is a terrific venture in the dark; we have to believe that God is love in spite of all that seems to contradict that truth. Every soul represents some kind of battlefield. The great point for the Christian is to remain perfectly confident in God.”

Chambers died in Cairo on November 15, 1917, of complications after a ruptured appendix. His words, recorded in shorthand by his wife and published after his death, speak to us today in a world that seems more uncertain than ever.

“Whatever and whoever you may lose faith in do not let this faith slip from you—God is love.”

David C. McCasland