Charles G. Finney Wrestling with God in the Woods

Charles was feeling distressed. Though he was a successful lawyer at the young age of 29, something troubled him. The New Yorker was expecting a new client to show up in his office the next day, October 11, 1821.

As a respected attorney, Charles had won admission to the bar the old- fashioned way—apprenticing with another lawyer. Now he used his gifts to help others navigate the legal system of that time. But first, he had some personal business to care for.

Charles Grandison Finney was worried about his own salvation. So he decided to head for the woods near his home in Adams, New York. “I will give my heart to God, or I never will come down from there,” he declared to himself.

For hours, Finney wrestled with the Lord in prayer before returning to his office. He then played hymns on his cello, a favorite pastime. Then something happened. “The Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul,” he would write more than half a century later. “I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way.”

When Finney’s new client showed up the next morning, the visitor was likely unprepared for what Charles had to say. “I have a retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to plead his cause,” he declared, “and cannot plead yours.”

Three years later, Finney was ordained a Presbyterian minister, but he shunned the strict Calvinism of that denomination. Instead, he placed an emphasis on personal conversion and public acceptance of Christ. His revivalism swept the nation and is credited with inspiring the later evangelism of Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham, among others.

Finney went on to help lead the fight for the abolition of slavery, serve as president of Oberlin College in Ohio, and author a “Systematic Theology” reference book still in use today. He passed to his rest in 1875 at the age of 85, though his legacy remains.

Reflect: Can you recall when you sought God and He responded in a powerful, life-changing manner? The Lord works in many different ways to touch hearts.

Key Bible Texts

Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually. (1 Chronicles 16:11 KJV)