Thursday, October 8, 2020 -
We must never give up on our wayward loved ones when they rebel against the Lord. No matter how hopeless it may seem, we should continue to pray for them to commit themselves to following the Lord. One such rebel was a young George Mueller who loved to frequent the gambling and drinking establishments and learned early to be a thief. He loved to stay in expensive hotels and sneak out without paying the bill. Eventually he did time in prison, but in s825 he eventually surrendered to Christ.
Mueller moved to England and began to serve the Lord. In 1829 he met his wife, “Miss Groves,” at a boarding school in Exeter where he went to minister on a weekly basis. On October 7, 1830, they were married, but not before they knelt together to ask the blessing of the Lord for their intended union.
Their marriage became a union centered in prayer. They settled down in Bristol and developed a burden for the destitute homeless children running wild through the thoroughfares. No doubt they reminded him somewhat of his own youth, although he was not destitute and homeless. On December 9, 1835, Mueller proposed a plan for an orphanage for these ragged children in a public meeting. Some gave him funds for this cause and in April of the following year, they opened their first orphanage. Twenty-six children were housed and fed. Before long, they opened a second orphanage, and then a third. But Mueller and his godly wife were determined that they would not ask people to provide funding for their ministry, but instead take their needs to the Lord in complete trust that He would supply every financial need. God always supplied, albeit at times it was at the last minute, stretching their faith.
The most well-known incident was a morning when the tables were set for breakfast, with the children anxiously waiting. Nothing was available to feed them, not funds to purchase food. However, someone knocked at the door, and it was the local baker. He said, “Mr. Mueller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2:00 a.m. and baked some fresh bread.” Then there was a second knock. This time it was the milkman, whose wagon broke down directly in front of the orphanage. He couldn’t repair the wagon unless he was able to empty the wagon first, and so he decided henceforth to bless the orphan children with it.
George Mueller lived close to 93 years during which time he cared for 10,000 orphans and established 117 schools which provided Christian education to more than 120,000 children. He did not begin his worldwide preaching ministry until the age of 70, yet preached to approximately 3 million people in 42 countries, all the while depending solely on the Lord for His provision.
Mueller once said, “I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished… I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditate on it.”
“Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Thy words. I rejoice at Thy Word, as one who finds great spoil” (Psalm 119:161-162).