George Muller: For the Benefit of the Church

Now, to be thorough, here are some instances of how Muller’s operation impacted his own church and his own generation. First, in Muller’s journal entry on November 25, 1835 he states: “One of the things the children of God need most is to have their faith strengthened (autobiography pg 70).” Then he proceeded to tell a story of a man of the church who worked fourteen to sixteen hours per day. This man was stretched thin and worn out and “had no joy in God (pg. 70).” Muller encouraged him to simply cut back on the number of hours he worked so that he might remain healthy and so he could have time to spend on strengthening his inner man. Here is how the entry continues:

He replied, “But if I work less, I do not earn enough for the support of my family. Even now, while I work so much, I scarcely have enough.” He had no trust in God and no real belief in the truth of that word, “Seek ye first […].” I explained to him, “My dear brother, it is not your work which supports your family, but the Lord.” (pg. 71)

He continued to encourage the man to depend upon God for his needs and the support of his family, and rebuking him for only having time for a few hurried moments of prayer, and being so worn out by the time evening comes around that reading the scriptures is difficult and wearisome. The man agreed with all the Muller encouraged, but Muller read in his countenance a doubt and unbelief. And Muller concludes with these statements of the driving passion of his life:

I longed to have something to give the brother as a visible proof that our God and Father is the same faithful God that He ever was. He is willing as ever to prove Himself the living God to all who put their trust in Him. […] I want to show these people that God is faithful and can be trusted without reservation. […] I long to strengthen their faith by proving that the promises from the Word of God of His willingness and ability to help all those who rely on Him are true. […] I want to be the servant of the Church in the particular point on which I had obtained mercy–in being able to take God at His word and rely on it. […] But the primary object of the [orphan] work is that God would be magnified because of the orphans under my care will be provided with all they need through prayer and faith. Everyone will see that God is faithful and hears prayer. (pgs. 71-73)

In this interaction with this man, and in these excerpts, Muller vibrantly reveals the blazing passion and bleeding motive of all the he did: the glory of God and the strengthening of the Church! He labored tirelessly in order to show those around him the trustworthiness of God. Muller continually sang one note–the glory of God; people began to resonate with this note and join the strain, adding their own harmonies. Such as a brother and sister that gave all their household items and their furniture, and offered themselves for the work, without expecting a salary, because they believed “that if it is the will of Lord to employ us, He will supply all our need (pg. 75).” And another story is of a woman who only earned a few shillings a week as a seamstress. He father died and left her a substantial inheritance. Instead of spending it to improve her condition she counted the cost, paid off her father’s debts, gave money to the support of her mother, and brought the remaining hundred pounds to give to the orphan house. Muller quizzed her, to make sure her motives were pure (another eccentricity of Muller is that he often refused funding if he felt it was not given with purity of motive). When at last he was satisfied with the purity of her motives, she stated, “The Lord Jesus gave His last drop of blood for me. Should I not give Him the hundred pounds (pgs. 75-76)?”

Though men throughout history have accomplished great things, few men have, with purity of motive, discipline of life, and passionate focus have impacted the world as Muller has. He kept the two-fold dictum of God’s glory and the Church’s benefit continually before him and filtered everything through that premise. Thus, his preaching, prayer, giving, ministering, and working all were intended to grow the faith of the church, which is simply a way to glorify God (pg. 33)! Thus, to answer the question as to whether Muller was successful or not, let Muller’s own beautiful synopsis suffice for an answer:

When I began the Orphan work in 1835, my chief object was the glory of God, by giving a practical demonstration as to what could be accomplished simply through the instrumentality of prayer and faith, in order thus to benefit the Church at large, and to lead a careless world to see the reality of the things of God, by showing them in this work, that the living God is still, as 4,000 years ago, the living God.  This my aim has been abundantly honoured. (accessed 01-13-11) http://www.prayerfoundation.org/andrew_murray_on_george_muller_2.htm