Stories and Dwight L. Moody

Dwight L. Moody was mentioned in a Bible study this conference, and out of curiosity I went hunting to find the original source for the story of the man in the mining town. I found it on this link, and then I realized that I had just stumbled on a treasure trove of godly stories and quotes, all of them rich and thought-provoking.

Here are some amazing ones, after a skim through:

WHY HIS LIFE WAS SPARED – A former Union soldier met a former Confederate soldier on a ship, and they both recalled an interesting night during the war. The Confederate soldier had decided to sing a hymn while standing sentry, after which his fear was replaced with a strange peace.

The other man said, “Now, listen to my story. I was a Union soldier, and was in the wood that night with a party of scouts. I saw you standing up, although I didn’t see your face, and my men had their rifles focused upon you waiting the word to fire, but when you sang out —

‘Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.’

I said, ‘Boys, put down your rifles; we will go home.’ I couldn’t kill you after that.”

I read that and was very touched at how much God valued this person who trusted Him. This reminds me of Psalms 57:7-8 – David was hiding in the cave from the soldiers and he really needed to stay quiet, but instead he was determined to praise God, crying, “My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.”

LADY PENDULUM – what a cool example Mr. Moody gave to this woman! She could not believe that her salvation would continue once Mr. Moody went back to America. After much discussion, he finally gave her a story about a pendulum clock: “The pendulum figured up the thousands of times it would have to tick, and got discouraged, and was going to give up. Then it thought, “It is only a tick at a time,” and went on. So it is in the Christian life — only one step at a time.” The woman was amazed and realized that “if she could trust in God for a supply of grace for only one day, she could go right on in the same way from day to day. As soon as she saw this, she came out quite decided.”

Christian life is really like a clock moving forward, one tick at a time. I have been sometimes discouraged at the long way I have to go in being truly dedicated or truly changed in Christ, but that’s actually something I can deal with one day at a time. It’s really encouraging!

THIS POWERFUL QUOTE – “Now, this is the time for action. I have got so tired and sick of this splitting hairs over theology. Man, let us go out and get the fallen up. Lift them up toward God and heaven. We want a practical kind of Christianity.”

HOW ONE MAN TREATED DOUBTS – A young man had just been converted and was bothered by Satan with the thought that maybe Jesus never actually said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out.” He finally overcame it around 2 am when he decided, “I will believe it anyway; and when I get to heaven, if it isn’t true, I will just tell the Lord I didn’t make the mistake — the translators made it.” This definitely made me laugh!

I haven’t read through all these on the link, so I’m curious to know what other stories you find inspiring! Or any other great men and women of God we should all know about 🙂