MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST 3RD SEPTEMBER 2024 BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
Read My Utmost for His Highest 3rd September 2024 (Oswald Chambers Devotional) Tuesday Inspirational Message.
TOPIC: The Waters of Satisfaction Scattered
The three mighty warriors . . . drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the Lord. — 2 Samuel 23:16
Have you recently received something that is like water from the well near Bethlehem? Has God given you love? Friendship? Spiritual blessings? It’s at the peril of your soul’s well-being that you use his gift to satisfy yourself. If you do, you cannot pour it out before the Lord.
Remember that you can never sacrifice to God that with which you long to satisfy yourself. Satisfy yourself with one of his blessings and it will corrupt you. Rather, you must do what common sense says is an absurd waste and pour it out.
How am I to pour out before the Lord the love I receive from others? There’s only one way: through the determination of my mind. People may do certain things for me which are humanly impossible to repay, things I could never accept if I didn’t know God. Since I do know him, I am able to accept others’ loving acts because I know that God will repay them—so long as I give the thing back to him in my mind.
I do this by saying, “This is too great and worthy for me; it’s not meant for a human being at all. I must pour it out.” The moment I commit something to the Lord, it will begin to flow in rivers of living water all around. If instead I hoard the love others give me, it will turn to poison. Love has to be transfigured by being poured out before the Lord.
Have you become bitter and sour because you have clutched one of God’s blessings for yourself? If instead you had poured it out to him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. God wants to use you to enlarge other people’s horizons. Get into the habit of immediately giving back to him everything he gives to you, and he will make you an immeasurable blessing to others.
FURTHER READING: Psalms 140-142; 1 Corinthians 14:1-20
Wisdom from Oswald
The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be.
My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R
Oswald Chambers was an early-twentieth-century Scottish Baptist evangelist and teacher who was aligned with the Holiness Movement. He is best known for the daily devotional My Utmost for His Highest