A New Job and a New Life
But Dwight didn’t need that much time. He agreed on the spot, and he went to work for his uncle straightaway as a sales clerk. His uncle also found him a room to rent from some Christians, showed him a place where he could get his meals, and pointed him to the Mount Vernon Congregational Church. In the next few years, Dwight grew up quickly, enjoying the opportunities to attend lectures, and check out books at the local Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), where he had become a member. In three months, he became his uncle’s best salesman and was soon prosperous enough to buy new shoes for his mother and siblings back home.
A Spiritual Awakening
Following his uncle’s instructions, he also attended Mount Vernon Church, but services interested him little; it was not uncommon to find him sleeping through the sermons, fatigued from the long hours he worked. Dwight’s Sunday school class was run by Edward Kimball, a devout middle-aged man who took some interest in the eighteen-year-old shoe clerk.
A Visit that Changed Everything
On Saturday, May 21, 1855, Edward felt compelled to check on the state of Dwight’s soul rather than do his daily devotions. Along the way, however, he had second thoughts about the impulse, and by the time he reached the shoe store, he had all but talked himself out of it. He was afraid of embarrassing Dwight in front of his fellow associates or of being a mere nuisance while he tried to work. A wary Edward walked right past the store but he soon returned, entered, and proceeded with his errand. He found Dwight alone in the back of the store, wrapping and shelving shoes.
A Touch of Kindness
Dwight had a solid admiration for Edward Kimball because of his kindness displayed on the first day of class. He had asked his students to open to the Book of John, and Dwight, unfamiliar with the Holy Book, began searching through it, page by page. Seeing this, Edward saved his student the embarrassment by handing Dwight his own Bible, which was open to the correct spot, in exchange for the one Dwight had been using.
A Life-Changing Moment
Dwight later remembered this of Kimball’s visit to the shoe store: “I used to attend a Sunday school class, and, one day, I recollect my teacher came around behind the counter of the shop I was at work in, and put his hand upon my shoulder, and talked to me about Christ and my soul. I had not felt that I had a soul till then. “I said to myself, ‘This is a very strange thing. Here is a man who never saw me till lately, and he is weeping over my sins, and I never shed a tear about them.’ But I understand it now, and know what it is to have a passion for men’s souls and weep over their sins. “I don’t remember what he said, but I can feel the power of that man’s hand on my shoulder tonight. It was not long after that, that I was brought into the Kingdom of God.”
A New Perspective
Forty years after Kimball’s visit, Dwight would speak of how his life had changed after coming to Christ: “I remember the morning I came out of my room after I had first trusted Christ. I thought the old sun shone a good deal brighter than it ever had before – I thought that it was just smiling upon me; and, as I walked out upon Boston Common and heard the birds singing in the trees, I thought they were all singing a song to me. “Do you know, I fell in love with the birds? I had never cared for them before. It seemed to me that I was in love with all creation. I had not a bitter feeling against any man, and I was ready to take all men to my heart.”
A Genuine Conversion
If a man has not the love of God shed abroad in his heart, he has never been regenerated. If you hear a person get up in the prayer meeting and he begins to find fault with everybody, you may doubt whether his is a genuine conversion; it may be counterfeit.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Tale Tuesday 071
Date: 16thJanuary, 2024
Title: : Dwight L. Moody – The Greatest Layman (Part 3)
Source: God’s generals- The Revivalists
Author: Roberts Liardon
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