I often think of the words in Hebrews 13:7, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” I still can’t get D.L. Moody out of my mind ever since my firsthand experience of handling his message notes when I visited Moody Bible Institute. What stands out to me is his faithfulness to do what God had called him to do. And the fruit of his labor lives on long past the date of his departure from earth to heaven in 1899. Thankfully the Lord burned Ephesians 5:15-17 into my heart early on as I was graduating from college. “Therefore be careul how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” I have sensed the certain and swift passage of time from a young age and I thank the Lord for that because the truth of thoses verses has compelled me to keep my hand to the plow.
I think of an article I read by R.A. Torrey entitled “Why God Used D.L. Moody.” If you want to read it you can find it here R.A. Torrey’s Article, Why God Used D.L. Moody. Torrey shares this story about Moody:
Henry Varley, a very intimate friend of Mr. Moody in the earlier days of his work, loved to tell how he once said to him: “It remains to be seen what God will do with a man who gives himself up wholly to Him.” I am told that when Mr. Henry Varley said that Mr. Moody said to himself: “Well, I will be that man.” And I, for my part, do not think “it remains to be seen” what God will do with a man who gives himself up wholly to Him. I think it has been seen already in D. L. Moody. If you and I are to be used in our sphere as D. L. Moody was used in his, we must put all that we have and all that we are in the hands of God, for Him to use as He will, to send us where He will, for God to do with us what He will, and we, on our part, to do everything God bids us do. There are thousands and tens of thousands [10] of men and women in Christian work, brilliant men and women, rarely gifted men and women, men and women who are making great sacrifices, men and women who have put all conscious sin out of their lives, yet who, nevertheless, have stopped short of absolute surrender to God, and therefore have stopped short of fullness of power. But Mr. Moody did not stop short of absolute surrender to God; he was a wholly surrendered man, and if you and I are to be used, you and I must be wholly surrendered men and women.
I think surrender to the Lord is such a huge factor in how we spend our lives. We’re each given so many days and so many hours to live out our life. Some people draw near to God, open up their Bible, and read and study and grow in their relationship with the Lord. As a result, they experience personal revival day by day and live out God’s plans and purposes for their lives. Others spend those same hours on many things that lead to nothing. I look at how D.L. Moody spent his life. And how Spurgeon spent his life. Oh how I want to spend my life well. “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).