Hope, Out of the fire
It was Sunday night, October 8th, 1871. The evangelist D.L. Moody had just concluded preaching at a hall in downtown Chicago. Moody left the pulpit that night without asking people to surrender their lives to Christ. He thought he could do that the next night. But that very night the Great Chicago Fire broke out. It raged on for two more days and nights. Most of the city of Chicago lay destroyed by the fire. The hall Moody preached in that night was burned down, the Illinois Street Church—the precursor of the Moody Church—was burned down, and so was Moody’s own residence. All of this destruction shook D.L. Moody deeply. The fire was so devastating that apart from causing huge financial losses to the tune of millions of dollars, 100,000 people were left homeless and more than 1,000 people died. But there was something that disturbed Moody even more.
Moody would not get another chance to ask those people he had preached to that night to surrender their lives to Christ. The anguish of never being able to present Christ again to those people caused Moody to seek the Lord like never before. Thereafter, Moody resolved never again to preach without asking people to give their lives to Christ. The result was thousands of people turning to Jesus Christ through the preaching of D.L. Moody in the years following, accepting the invitation to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. God used the great Chicago fire to bring something beautiful out of D.L. Moody’s anguish, and bring hope to generations after that. While the Great Chicago Fire may have destroyed much infrastructure and many lives, this singular event was used to save countless more from a far more dangerous fire, namely the fire of hell, which will consume eternally.
The Bible says in Isaiah 63:3 that it is God’s intention to redeem His peoples’ lives and “give them beauty instead of ashes.” In ancient Israel, ash upon one's head signified mourning over some tragedy or sorrow. Where there is ash there always had to have been a fire of some sort—whether literal or metaphorical—that destroyed. The God of the Bible promises if we trust Him, He will bring something beautiful out of the fires that have destroyed our lives. The ancient Israelites would be vested with headgear fit for celebration instead of ashes, which means whatever they were mourning would have ended. To receive this promise however, they would have to trust in their Messiah, Jesus Christ, who was to come. Today, Jesus Christ has come indeed, and the same principle applies to us if we will trust Jesus Christ. Have you given your life to Jesus Christ? Have your trusted Him as your Savior and Redeemer? He is the God who can bring hope and beauty out of life’s fires that may have been intended to leave people hopeless and destroyed.
God did the same for DL Moody. While the Illinois Street Church was destroyed, another church building was raised for people to worship in. And subsequent to D.L. Moody’s death, the Illinois Street Church was renamed Moody Memorial Church. Then in 1924-25 yet another edifice, a third building, was raised on the corner of North and LaSalle in downtown Chicago. Today, people from 70 different nations gather at the Moody Church in that building to worship the God who makes all things beautiful. The Great Chicago Fire may have destroyed the church building, but God purified His servant D.L. Moody, and to this day God has preserved His Church—those believers in Jesus Christ who gather to worship God. Not only has God preserved the Moody Church, but He also continues to purify and preserve the universal Church. He continues to give us beauty instead of ashes.
Wouldn’t your best fire insurance policy in this life and beyond be to trust the God who is able to give you beauty instead of ashes?
Kenny Damara