Daily Light: The Chambers’ Favorite Devotional

Daily Light on the Daily Path was Biddy and Oswald Chambers‘ favorite devotional.

Throughout their seven-year marriage, the couple read the book each morning.

It served as a touchstone to their day and relationship.

Both read it all the way to the end of their lives.

What is Daily Light?

As a devotional, Daily Light (as it is generally called) consists of two readings for each day of the year.

“Morning” includes a short snippet of Scripture, no more than two sentences long, followed by three short paragraphs from the Bible.

“Evening” follows the same pattern.

Everything is from the Bible–there are no other comments or explanations of the passage.

Oswald and Biddy loved it because it consisted of God‘s word, nothing else.

Who wrote Daily Light?

The Bagster family of England produced the Daily Light in the 1870’s.

Jonathan Bagster (1813-1872) came from a publishing family.

He had many children and the family shared corporate devotions every evening after dinner.

Acting as “editor-in-chief,” Jonathan challenged his family by selecting a passage of Scripture.

Using the concept of “scripture interpreting scripture,” he asked his family to contribute verses that illustrated the passage.

He gave them time to pray and think before calling them back to hear their suggestions.

The family–thirteen people–then discussed the different passages and prayed together about them.

Often, they went back and forth for days debating which verses explained the set scripture best.

They put the manuscript aside and a few weeks later pulled it out to reconsider. Jonathan’s daughter Anne acted as his assistant.

Eventually, they divided the readings into Morning and Evening.

Following Jonathan’s death in 1872, his son Robert completed the manuscript and arranged for publication.

The book has never been out of print.

Biddy, Oswald and Daily Light.

Oswald and Biddy Chambers read the devotional daily and often referenced it in their letters.

As it is solely God’s word, they found it helpful in confirming decisions.

One morning while sitting on the Egyptian desert sand watching the sun rise, Oswald prayed about his family’s circumstances.

Biddy and their daughter Kathleen, along with companion Mary Riley, were still in England awaiting word from him as to when they should buy tickets to sail to Egypt.

World War I was fifteen months old and the seas crawled with German U-boats.

Oswald had special permission for them to join him at the YMCA‘s Zeitoun camp.

But the time didn’t seem right until November 17, 1915, when he wrote in his diary:

“I have decided to write today for Biddy and Miss Riley to come right away. I got two wonderful verses this morning about the matter for which I thank God. Mark 9:8 and Psalm 37:4.”

The next day, after consulting with a friend about a house, he wrote

“If you knew how next to impossible it had seemed [Biddy’s coming out], you would see as clearly as I do the hand of God in it. The Daily Light text when I came back [that evening] was just like God, full of the most ineffable tenderness to touch me–‘Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded.”

To Oswald, God’s words in Daily Light confirmed the decision he made in faith for his family to come.

Biddy and devotional encouragement.

Even after her husband’s death, Biddy continued to read the Daily Light.

One of the most meaningful readings for her came on November 30, 1917.

Biddy returned to Zeitoun after two weeks of mourning and the reading affirmed her choice to stay in Egypt and continue ministering at the camp.

From Mrs. Oswald Chambers:

Biddy took a deep breath and recalled the morning’s readings from the Daily Light:

“My presence shall go with thee,” and “Jesus Himself came and stood in the midst of them.”

The affirming words of scripture reinforced by her devotional reading meant the world to Biddy that day–and for many years to come.

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Oswald Chambers’s favorite devotional: Daily Light. Click to Tweet

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