Over the Wall

In the early 1920's J. Rufus Moseley began writing editorials and a weekly column for the Macon Telegraph. The following is from the article that he wrote for the December 14, 1930 issue:

"When I came to Macon the other day I felt especially thankful that the most exacting part of the fall and winter work on the little pecan farm near Byron, Ga., was finished. [Moseley used to run a small pecan farm.] I found that a friend who had suffered long and much because of others seeming selfishness and unreason on the part of others was being pressed more and more to the wall. I felt especially burdened to see another burdened so heavily and seemingly so unreasonably. At night I asked in a special way for God's solution of the friend's problem, and for other similar problems. When I dropped off to sleep it was made known to me in a special way how generous, friendly and grateful some people were to me.

"A little later in my sleep, I crossed a wide river on a beautiful bridge. Even the pavement under my feet was so clean and smooth that it was delightful to the eye. When I started to re-cross the river, the waters were so high and disturbed and very near my feet. All of the visible supports I had to step upon were small wires crossed after the manner of a wire fence. I walked undisturbed and unafraid until I came to a stone wall higher than my head that was seemingly impassable. It was made known to me if I would allow the wire to be entangled about my feet that I would be enabled to cross the wall. I turned my feet in a effort to entangle them in the wire and instantly they were entangled and firmly held. I was carried over the wall so quickly and easily, I could not take it in how it had been done.

"It was good to be over, but unpleasant to have the feet so firmly tied. It was soon made known to me that these entanglements would be removed, and they went suddenly. In the dream itself the interpretation was given that the entanglements of the children of God are used by God to carry them over the seemingly impassable walls of difficulty and that when they are over the entanglements and bindings will go.

"Since then there has been a new view, a new freedom, and a new joy that nothing has taken away; and I trust that nothing ever will or can take away. Today I received a letter that had as much in it to disturb as did the letter the other day. But instead of giving disturbance, it increased my joy--the joy that comes from the revelation and understanding that the entanglements, fiery trials, and seemingly impassable walls of difficulty are God's means for carrying us on to the place where we are gloriously free and are happy over the hard places we have been through on the way to His liberty and peace. The storm has no power to disturb when one sees beyond the storm a greater calm.

"Everything that God permits is working for the good of His children. Temptations and trials are some of the means of God to lead us on and to carry us over. This light makes it reasonable and possible and, in the end, inevitable that we give thanks for everything. These and more than these things would have to be true for our lives to head upward and end in great, overwhelming and transforming gratitude, bliss and glory.

"I have told several spiritually minded and awakened people about the dream and its interpretation, and a light has come in their faces; some of them began praising and shouting. There are also other witnesses to the truth of the dream and its interpretation.

". . . We enter into Him and into the Kingdom at His feet. His feet, of course, symbolize His meekness, humility, gentleness and peace. He has been teaching me for years about the wonder of being at His feet, the wonder of being in the spiritual blessedness which causes one to fall down in utter humility, touched by His infinite peace and bliss. Every time He has manifested Himself to me most really, wonderfully and preciously, I have fallen down on my face feeling a meekness, a gentleness, a bliss, and a holiness that would be unbelievable, if I did not know that it exists, and exists for us as we are ready to receive it. When He begins to reveal the deepest truth, I feel myself pulled down physically, and when He has manifested Himself I have fallen at what seemed to be His feet.

"We go down to go up. Only in meekness and lowliness of heart is there sweet and infinite peace, rest, bliss and glory.

"An old friend who has taught school, tried politics, and played a role well in the interests of the public, has keen insight into many sides of life, and manifestly has a call to live in the Spirit and to do something greatly worthwhile, told me the other day that every door for making a living seemed closed to him. As I told him there is One who wants workers, who gives them the assurance if they will put His business first they will never be out of employment, and never lack for anything they actually need, whether the need is clearly spiritual and divine or seemingly human. This One, of course, is the Lord Jesus; and His work is the increase and triumph of the Kingdom of God--in the hearts and lives of individuals and in the whole of life. One can always get work from Him, and the best work of all, the work that just fits and just satisfies. And those who start to work late in the day get the same wages as those who start early in the morning and get paid off first.

"He shuts the doors that should be closed, leading us on through the Right Door. Whether we always know it or not, the whole of life and every detail of it is under an all-wise and loving providence. Whatever is denied us or taken from us is to lead us on to something better--something better for others and something better for ourselves. As we become wise enough to follow the highest leading, follow it happily and accept joyfully whatever God gives or suffers to come to us, the whole of life is filled with peace, joy and gratitude that are overwhelming, melting and transforming. As we accept and respond to God's best we come to see that nothing can keep us from His best. Emerson, in his human and fine literary way, expressed essentially the same thought: 'I do not see how by any possible ingenuity we will ever be able to escape the blessed purposes of God concerning us, but I would that our will and endeavor were more active parties.'

". . . Recently I have also reread Henry Drummond's formula for sanctification, a formula which he found in the second chapter of the second epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. As Drummond says the formula is just as scientific as any truth we know in the natural world. Since we are mirrors, reflecting whatever we are interested in and whatever we are thinking about, the secret of salvation, sanctification, redemption, and everything spiritual, heavenly and Christ-like is in turning and keeping turned our mirror (our heart, mind and everything) to the Lord. As we do this, we reflect the Lord and we assimilate the Lord and the things of the Lord, and are changed from glory to glory into His likeness. He does the changing and transforming, and He will continue to do this until we become fully like Him. Our work is to keep the mirror turned to Him. This is very simple and requires the best that we are capable of, and our best all the time.

"To quote Drummond's own fine words 'To follow Christ is largely to keep the soul in such a position as will allow for the motion of the earth, (so that nothing that happens about us can keep us from having the mirror always before the Lord). And this calculated counteracting of the movements of the world, this holding of the mirror exactly opposite the Mirrored (the Christ), this steadying of the faculties unerringly through cloud and earthquake, fire and sword, is the stupendous co-operating labor of the will. It is all man's work. It is all Christ's work. In practice it is both.'

"Somehow I failed to notice at the time of its publication Thomas L. Masson's especially fine article on Faith and Contentment that appeared in the November issue of the American magazine. Masson is a literary man who in his youth defied God or challenged Him if He existed at all to make Himself known. After drifting away from the sense of God, through a life that separated him from God, one day when he was quiet, he 'became conscious of the actual pervading presence of a transcendent being. This presence was Christ.'

"After this, the spiritual presence made Himself known in deeper ways, and Mr. Masson says 'all doubt has gone,' and he lives in joyous contentment.

"Speaking of Jesus, Mr. Masson says God limited Himself through the human Jesus to show us how to realize Him. He also says that Christ was manifested to show us the law of liberty and joy in all things.

"Writing as to how he prays, he says that the first thing to do is to put before the Lord the problem that we need to have solved and that we have failed to solve. The next thing is to ask Him for wisdom and understanding on the problem. And after we have done this, and are certain that the problem is beyond us, we put it out of our minds, and leave it to God. This as he says requires faith, but a very little faith will do if it is sincere and genuine. Then comes the solution of the problem without any seeming effort on our part.

"When we call in sincerity, He answers and as Isaiah saw the time comes when He answers even before we call.

"It is all very simple, if we go at it genuinely, and rise above all forms and make believes and go directly to God in a straightforward way like we go to a friend who loves us, understands us, is glad to have us tell him everything, and who is always ready to help.

"Prayer is fellowship and communion. In the deepest prayer, God talks to us and we talk to Him. We cannot become really humbly silent before Him, wanting to hear from Him, and wanting to do what He wants us to do, without hearing from Him. And when we hear from Him we find that He always tells us the very right thing to do, the thing that is not hard, but easy to do.

"As Masson has glimpsed in and through and by union and fellowship with Christ, 'all power in the universe is at our disposal', 'not to abuse', but to use. God being pure good and pure love cannot help us do anything but the things that are pure good to others and to ourselves. And as we obey Him we partake of His omnipotence. As we go on with Him, all power in heaven and earth will be ours, and every enemy, including the seemingly hostile forces of nature and even death will be put under our feet."