"The children are dressed and ready for school. But there is no food for them to eat," the housemother of the orphanage informed George Mueller. George asked her to take the 300 children into the dining room and have them sit at the tables. He thanked God for the food and waited. George knew God would provide food for the children as he always did. Within minutes, a baker knocked on the door. "Mr. Mueller," he said, "last night I could not sleep. Somehow I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you. I will bring it in."
Soon, there was another knock at the door. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. The milk would spoil by the time the wheel was fixed. He asked George if he could use some free milk. George smiled as the milkman brought in ten large cans of milk. It was just enough for the 300 thirsty children.
Who was George Mueller?
George Mueller was not always a person of such great faith and good character. As a young boy growing up in Germany in the early 1800s, he often stole money from his dad. As a teenager, he sneaked out of a hotel twice without paying for the room. One time he was caught by police and put in jail. As a Bible college student, George loved going to bars, drinking, gambling, and being the life of the party. He also loved making fun of people, especially Christians.
One day, a friend invited George to go to an off-campus Bible study. He went only because he wanted to make fun of the Christians later. But to his surprise, he liked the Bible study. For the first time, he saw people who really knew and loved God. He attended each evening. Before the end of the week, he knelt at his bed and asked God to forgive his sins.
George's friends saw a change in him immediately. He no longer went to bars or made fun of people. He spent more time reading his Bible, talking about God, and going to church. Soon he found that his friends did not want to be around him anymore.
When George told his father that he had decided to become a missionary, his father became very upset. He wanted George to have a high-paying job and not be a poor missionary. He told George he would not give him any more money for school. George knew he had to do what God was calling him to do, even if his dad didn't support him.
George Mueller's Prayer
George went back to college without knowing how he was going to pay his tuition. He did something he thought was a bit silly for a grown man to do. He got on his knees and asked God to provide. To his surprise, an hour later, a professor knocked on his door. He offered George a paid tutoring job! George was amazed! This was the beginning of George Mueller's dependence on God.
After finishing college, George was ready to begin his missionary work in London, England. But there was one problem: Germany required all healthy men to serve at least a year in the army. George wanted to get to his mission as quickly as possible; however, he became very sick. His illness was so serious that he almost died. It also made him unable to serve in the army. He was now free to go to England as a missionary.
George Mueller's Orphanage Care
George became the pastor of a small church in England. The church wanted to pay him a good salary from the money it received renting pews to rich church members who sat at the front of the church. (Poor members had to sit in the "cheap" seats in the back.) George told them this had to stop if they wanted him to be their pastor. Even so, he did not allow the church to pay him a salary. He trusted God to meet his needs, and God did. George and his family never missed a meal and were always able to pay their rent. George began to sense, however, that God had something else for him to do.
Each day as George walked the streets, he saw children everywhere who had no mom or dad. They lived on the streets or in state-run poorhouses, where they were treated badly. George felt God calling him to open an orphanage to take care of the children.
George prayed, asking God to provide a building, people to oversee it, furniture, and money for food and clothing. God answered his prayers. The needs of the orphanage were met each day. Sometimes a wealthy person would send a large amount of money, or a child would give a small amount received as a gift or for doing chores. Many times food, supplies, or money came at the last minute, but God always provided without George telling anyone about his needs. He just prayed and waited on God.
More than 10,000 children lived in the orphanage over the years. When each child became old enough to live on his own, George would pray with him and put a Bible in his right hand and a coin in his left. He explained to the young person that if he held onto what was in his right hand, God would always make sure there was something in his left hand as well.
It has been more than 165 years since George Mueller took in his first orphan. His vision continues today as Christians around the world are inspired by his faith to depend on God to meet their needs and the needs of helpless children. You can see the story of George Mueller's life in a video called The Obstacle to Comfort.
Make It Real! Questions to make you dig a little deeper and think a little harder.
1. Do you see any similarities between George Mueller's and the Apostle Paul's decisions to follow Jesus? How did George change after he became a follower of Jesus?
2. What did Mueller mean when he told the orphans to "hold onto the Bible in your right hand"?
3. Describe a time when God has answered your prayers and provided for you or your family.
4. What resources do you have that you could use to help others who might be in need of food or shelter?
Suggested reading:
The orphan children all had their dinners and were ready for bed. They always felt loved and cared for in the Bristol orphanage; little did they know that the orphanage had no money and there was no food for breakfast the next day. Though he did not know how, George Mueller was confident the Lord would provide for the orphans--after all, wasn't he a "Father to the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5)? Mr. Mueller went to bed, committing the care of the orphans to God. The next morning he went for a walk, praying for God to supply the orphanage's needs. In his walk he met a friend who asked him to accept some money for the orphanage. . . Mr. Mueller thanked him, but did not tell the friend about the pressing need. Instead, he praised God for the answer to prayer and went to the orphanage for breakfast.
No Salary for George
George Mueller had joyfully dedicated his "whole life to the object of exemplifying how much may be accomplished by prayer and faith." When he had moved to Bristol in 1832 to take the pulpit of Gideon chapel, he and his wife Mary decided not to accept a salary from the congregation. They wanted to daily depend upon the Lord for their needs, and they accepted only unsolicited freewill offerings. Mueller's journal is full of the amazing ways the Lord directed funds to them throughout his sixty-six years of ministry.
A Detestable Young Drunk
George Mueller had not always lived a life of faith. As a young man in Prussia (in today's Germany) he was busy pursuing his own pleasures. When he was fourteen and his mother lay dying, he was out partying and getting drunk with his friends. By sixteen he was a liar, a thief, a swindler, a drunkard, and in jail. Yet, God worked in the young man's soul and brought him to Himself. While at the University of Halle in 1825, he left behind the profligacy and self-seeking of his old life and became totally devoted to serving his Lord. Humility came to mark Mueller's life, for he depended on God for everything, viewing himself as a tool in the hands of the Master Workman.
By 1829, Mueller had left his native Prussia and gone to London to train as a missionary to the Jews. However, in England the Lord directed him along other paths, and by 1832 he was pastoring a Brethren congregation in Bristol, England. Bristol would be the center of his ministry for the next sixty-six years.
Influenced by Pietism
At Bristol, Mueller began reading a biography of a great leader of the "Pietism" movement, A. H. . Francke, who had founded an orphan house at Halle in 1696. Francke's orphanage became the largest enterprise for orphans then existing in the world, and he had trusted in God for every provision. As Mueller began to work with the poor in Bristol, he too wanted to trust the Lord and bring every need to Him in prayer.
A year after coming to Bristol, Mueller had established two Sunday Schools, two adult schools, and six day schools. In 1834 he founded the Scriptural Knowledge Institute. Debts were not allowed for this work of the Lord, and the "patronage of the World" was not to be accepted. The Lord prospered the work. By 1880 the S.K.I. was responsible for 72 day schools with 7000 students in Bristol as well as in Italy, Spain, and South America.
Homes for Orphans
As work among the poor in Bristol grew, Mueller believed he should open an orphan house. Within a year, one hundred orphans were being cared for; by 1870, the orphanages had multiplied and two thousand children were being cared for.
It's God's Concern
The history of the Bristol orphanages is page after page of answered prayer. Nothing was too small to bring to the Lord in prayer, for nothing was too small to be under God's care. In his prayers, Mueller would confidently set his need and his case before God: He is their Father, and therefore has pledged Himself, as it were, to provide for them; and I have only to remind Him of the need of these poor children in order to have it supplied.
An Unfailing Faith
It was this unshakable faith in God's providing hand which made the Bristol orphanages so unique. Some leaders visiting the orphanage asked the matron of the home, "Of course you cannot carry these institutions without a good stock of funds. . . Have you a good stock?" The matron quietly replied, "Our funds are deposited in a bank which cannot break." Tears came to the eyes of the visitors, who gave a donation to the work -- a very timely gift because at the moment there were no funds on hand! The orphanage never accumulated a surplus of funds, but daily relied on the Lord for their provisions.
When he was seventy, George Mueller turned over the management of the orphanages to his son-in-law and began a series of worldwide missionary tours. From 1875 to 1892 he traveled 250,000 miles and addressed 3 million people in forty-two countries. He died in Bristol at the age of 93. Though much money had passed through his hands he did not accumulate wealth for himself. His life demonstrated what extraordinary ministry can be accomplished through the combination of tender compassion for hungry and homeless children, unshakable faith in God, and practical action to meet need.
Robbing Factories
The homes emphasized education and the development of Christian character. The quality of education was so high that Mueller was accused of educating the poor beyond their station and robbing the factories and mines of their labor. Boys were kept in their homes until they were fourteen and girls until they were seventeen. All were trained in some work so they had jobs when they left the orphanage. Boys were often apprenticed to some trade, and the girls were prepared for domestic service, nursing, or teaching.
("George Muller, Man of Faith and Prayer" first published on Christianity.com on April 28, 2010)
Georg, as he liked to be called (the 'e' was added when he came to England), was born in 1803 in Germany. His father, Johann Müller, developed a private plan early in life to ensure Georg's freedom from the uncertainties of war and politics. He would enter him for service in the Lutheran Church. As Georg recalled, "Not so as I might serve God‚--but that I might have a comfortable living!" And no doubt provide a comfortable and secure retirement for his father, too, in a minister's expansive country house. At age thirteen, Georg was not averse to this. A comfortable living sounded fine to him. He knew that Lutheran ministers did not actually have to live in a godly manner; they only needed to appear godly.
His father introduced Georg and his brother to money quite early on in life, giving them quite a sum "to save." He believed this would help them realize and understand the value of money. "In order," commented Georg later, "to educate us in worldly principles." But in doing this, Johann had opened up a veritable Pandora's box of worldly principles to his sons. George soon discovered that he liked spending money much more than he enjoyed saving it.
As Georg grew older, he became adept at stealing money and spending it on more adult pleasures. He recalls heavy drinking sessions with school colleagues, playing cards and reading racy novels instead of studying. He hints at darker experiences, too‚--what he later called "immorality" and "gross immorality," Victorian euphemisms for sex. He had several girl friends of questionable character who featured in his early diaries. Furthermore, he spent time in prison while studying divinity.
After beginning his studies at Martin Luther University, Müller discovered that only "decent" divinity students got decent Lutheran parishes. To be fair, he was having pangs of conscience, but the pivotal moment of Georg's life crept up on him unawares. His drinking crony Christoph Beta, newly returned to the University, boldly asked Georg if he would like to try something different from the usual run of taverns and worse. How about a prayer meeting? Something intrigued Georg about the invitation. He asked what went on, and upon being told it was Bible reading, singing and prayers, something moved him to accept. In fact, he found he was eager to do so.
God Gets Müller
Next Saturday, a dark November's eve in 1825, the two young men slipped down through the narrow lanterned and cobbled streets to the meeting. The meeting opened with a hymn, and then Friedrich Kayser knelt down and informally asked a blessing on the group. Georg was stunned. He had never seen anyone on his knees before. He himself had never prayed on his knees. He recalls it "made a deep impression on me." Suddenly, he realized he was truly happy for the first time, and a sense of peace entered his soul. But "if I had been asked why--I could not clearly have explained it." He walked back to the campus on a cloud of pure joy.
It was a turning point. Georg felt a new sense of calling in his life. He was not perfect, but he gave up his former ways, with only a few missteps. No longer was he concerned with having a comfortable country pastorate. Now he wanted to do mission work, and felt he immediately received the "peace of God that surpasses all understanding."
At first, his father was distressed by his decision, and mandatory military service seemed to derail his plans. Then illnesses made him unfit for the service and his father came around. George (the 'e' was now added) then set out for England to train with the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst Jews. He arrived in England amid much social unrest. The industrial machine had made men, women and children virtual slaves, and George felt compelled to try to help them. He had spent much time in study, but now he wanted to be active in changing the social climate. The Society was not willing to alter his training, so George set out on his own.
Paying For Your Seat in Church
At the time, most of a minister's income came from "pew rents." Those who came to church and sat in the pews were expected to pay for the privilege. The better the seat, the more a person had to pay to sit there. On top of this, ministers were allowed to accept donations, preaching expenses and seasonal gifts.
But George began to feel strongly that "the Gospel was not to be charged for." As a missionary, someone who reached out into the community, was it fair to ask those who may be searching for the truth to pay to do so? Hardly. But if there were no pew rent, who would provide for the pastor and his wife? The answer to this question, George decided, was to "just pray, and God will provide." This method forced him to be a good steward with funds and transparent about spending habits.
"Have I Gone Too Far?"
The "just pray, and God will provide" principle was not implemented without spiritual struggle. In the second week in January 1831, after continued prayers had seemingly produced nothing, Müller candidly confesses to feeling "tempted to distrust" God. "I began to say to myself I had gone too far in living in this way." It was a bad moment for him. He wrestled with this (he felt as with the devil) before feeling confident again. In fact, he records, "Satan was immediately confounded," for when he got back to his room minutes later, an Exeter lady had left them two pounds and four shillings.
In 1832, after a few years of service as a pastor in Teignmouth, he moved on to a church in Bristol. There he used the same methods of fund raising to form the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. It meant that money could be directly put into providing Bibles and portions of Bibles for local day schools and adult schools. There seemed to be a cycle of funds running to the very last straw, followed by intensive prayer and then God meeting the need.
The key method to Müller's faith walk was his certain belief that God would answer his prayers. Once, while crossing the Atlantic by boat, a delaying fog developed. George made his way to the bridge and asked the captain if there was any chance of getting into port on time. When told there was very little, he pulled the captain aside and began to pray for the fog to clear. The captain was about to follow his example when Müller apparently put his hand up. "Do not pray," he instructed. "First, you don't believe He will answer; and second, I believe he already has!" Captain Dutton walked to the door to find the fog had dispersed. We have no record of Müller ever mentioning this episode, but Captain Dutton told and retold the story many times.
The Orphans of Bristol
George had felt a burden for the abandoned children of the city streets ever since coming to Bristol. There was no educational system, no chance or hope of betterment, and no health care. To test his feelings about opening an orphan house, he began praying for God to take the thought away, but instead it intensified. He held a public meeting to propose his idea, and soon after, volunteers and gifts began rolling in.
On April 11, 1836, George opened his first orphan house for 26 female children. The success led George to open another orphan house for infant children in November, 1836. Then, in the 1840s, his desires grew more ambitious‚ an orphanage that could house 300 children. It was an unthinkable idea, because it would require a staggering sum of money. He wrote up a list of pros and cons and then waited on God. By the end of the year, gifts began arriving amid an economic depression in England. By June of 1849, children and staff moved into the orphan house. By the 1870s he had built five houses for 2000 children.
The week before his death, in early March 1898, the 93-year-old Müller, as usual, faced massive financial needs to meet the budgets on churches, five new orphanages (2,000 children and 600 staff) plus thousands of pounds committed to Bible products and missionaries home and abroad. Showing his trust in the sufficiency of God to the very end, he wrote in his diary, "The income today, by the first two deliveries was seven pounds fifteen shillings and eleven pence. Day by day our great trial of faith and patience continues, and thus it has been more or less now, for twenty-one months, yet, by Thy Grace, we are sustained."
"I Can't Take Your Money!"
Some giving George Müller could not reconcile with his conscience. If he thought a gift was made on an ill-considered impulse, could not be spared, or worse, was money that was owed elsewhere, he would challenge it. He would do this no matter how urgent the immediate need. The hundred pounds given by a poor seamstress for the first orphanage was one such gift. Only after talking to her at length was George satisfied that he could accept her money. A more difficult case was a gift from a lady of one hundred pounds at a time of very harsh need in the orphanages. George knew she had run up debts all over Bristol. He went to her and in a difficult conversation persuaded her she must take her gift back and use it to clear her debts. It was not the only time he had to do this, but it was one of the hardest, as the orphan funds that day were completely exhausted. Müller always saw such things as a test of his faith and his biblical morality. But it took some doing. Money for the orphans came from elsewhere the next day.
Operating a Godly Business
Speaking directly to Christian businessmen and women, Müller commented that although the due process of trade was fine, a Christian should specifically run his or her business in a distinctively godly way. If this was done faithfully and prayerfully, then he or she could expect God's blessing on the trade. Naturally, the keeping of good, honest accounts was one important area, as was paying debts promptly and offering good service and sound, not shoddy, goods. But Müller was also aware of other, more subtle, areas. He cautioned shop owners not to put someone outside in the street to grab customers, or dress a shop with over-rich furnishings, though all should be clean and neat (including the staff, who should be properly washed and modestly dressed!). He also believed it was wrong to sell more to a customer than he or she wanted. If a woman walked in looking for a hat, then she should leave with one, not two! Staff were to be treated kindly, paid fairly, and not expected to work overly long hours. Müller understood the importance of making income balance expenditure but maintained that good business was not driven by receipts but by honesty, integrity and courtesy in all its dealings, whether with customers, wholesalers, salesmen, workers or bankers. "Then," he said, "you will have a Christian witness, and God will honour your business."
This issue excerpted from Robber of the Cruel Streets: The Prayerful Life of George Müller of Bristol by Clive Langmead (Published by CWR, ISBN: 1-85345-395-1). Also look for the release of the new Gateway Films/Vision Video documentary based on this book.
("George Müller: God Alone Our Patron" published on Christianity.com on April 28, 2010)
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