God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. He stands at the heart’s door in sunshine and rain, patiently waiting to gain an entrance. Sometimes His patience extends over many years. Dwight L. Moody illustrated this with an unforgettable example.
One night he had preached on Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” At the close of the meeting, a man came up to him in extreme agitation.
“Mr. Moody,” he said, “when I was leaving home, my mother pled with me to trust Christ but I said, ‘I can’t think of that now. I have to go out and make a living.’ But I promised her that I would go to church every Sunday.
“When I settled in my new accommodations, I found that my mother had put a Bible in my bag with Matthew 6:33 marked, ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.’
“On the first Sunday, I went to church. The preacher took as his text Matthew 6:33. I thought it was more than a coincidence. I wanted to trust Christ but I didn’t do it. I slipped out.
“The next Sunday I went to a different church. The text that day was Matthew 6:33. I knew that God was chasing me down. I knew that He was speaking to me. I was greatly stirred. But I said I would come to Christ some other time.
“Some weeks later I was in another town. Would you believe it? — the minister spoke from Matthew 6:33. Some people sitting near me questioned me and found that I wasn’t saved. They urged me to receive the Lord Jesus. But I said, ‘No, if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to do what I want to do.’ And so I went out, rejecting Christ.
“Mr. Moody, I have attended church for forty years. I wanted to keep that promise to my mother. But in all those forty years, I have never heard that text again.
“Then tonight I came into your meeting and you preached on Matthew 6:33, ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.’ Mr.
Moody, do you think that God will still forgive me and save me?”
Moody assured him that the door of salvation was still open, and that night the penitent entered in. God’s patience had extended over forty years, and a mother’s prayers had followed for that long, too.
~ From William MacDonald’s The Wonders of God, pg.85
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