November 28. George Mueller. Mueller was a thief and a gambler—up until he was 14. About his childhood, he wrote: “Despite my sinful lifestyle and cold heart, God had mercy on me. I was as careless as ever.… I never heard the gospel preached. Nobody told me that Jesus meant for Christians, by the help of God, to live according to the Holy Scriptures.”
But when Mueller was 20, there came a prayer meeting that changed everything. He wrote: “[Christ] began a work of grace in me. Even though I scarcely had any knowledge of who God truly was, that evening was the turning point in my life.”
Mueller went on to pastor a church for many decades. On this date in 1836, he opened his first infant orphan house—one of many orphan houses. He fed and dressed and educated the children so well that merchants complained of a lack of new young people to do servile labor. Mueller’s children got apprenticeships and opportunities.
For 17 years—beginning when he was 70—Mueller traveled and preached. At a time when there were no airplanes, he traveled more than 200,000 miles, and he preached in English, French, and German. When his audience didn’t understand one of those, his sermons were translated. Listen to this.
Because we know God is good, we can face reality and make a difference.
Imagine what it would be like to live in the London Dickens portrayed or on the south-side of Chicago or on the eastside of Detroit or just about anywhere in Haiti.
Faced with that kind of poverty and pain, how could you find the courage to stand with the suffering and do something good?
Mueller believed in a sovereign God who is good and does good. Mueller’s faith in the goodness of God gave him the confidence to tackle one of the greatest problems of his day: the tragic lives of England’s orphans.
In 1832, England had few orphanages, and the ones they had charged fees. If relatives didn’t take in orphaned children, they ended up in the workhouse, where poor food, inadequate heat, and lack of nurturing contributed to high mortality rates.
Mueller prayed about starting an orphanage, and provision arrived. In 1836, he and Mary, his wife, welcomed thirty girls into their own home—the beginning.
The pastor of a large church, Mueller never took a salary. He trusted God’s goodness to provide for his family—just as He trusted God would care for the orphans.
And God’s goodness was evident in all that was accomplished. Mueller’s orphanages cared for 10,024 orphans and provided such educational opportunities that he was accused of raising the poor above their natural station.
Mueller also established 117 schools, offering Christian education to more than 120,000 children. He never asked for money from anyone but God. Estimates of God’s provision (by today’s standards) range from several million to half a billion dollars.
Mueller clung to God’s goodness for himself—not just for those he served—even in times of great pain. At Mary’s deathbed, Mueller read from Psalm 84.
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).
Though he asked God to heal Mary, his ultimate hope was in God’s goodness. He preached Mary’s funeral service starting with Psalm 119:68, “Thou art good and doest good.”
Stories abound of Mueller’s simple faith in God’s goodness. Here’s a universal favorite. One morning the housekeeper came to Mueller because there was no food in one of the orphanages. He told her to seat the children in the dining room. He entered and prayed, thanking God for breakfast. Then they waited.
Within minutes, a baker showed up. He said he couldn’t sleep because he somehow knew the children would need bread. In the night he had baked three batches.
Soon there was another knock. The milkman’s cart broke down right in front of the orphanage. Rather than allow the milk to spoil, he offered Mueller free milk—enough to satisfy 300 thirsty children.
While Mueller cared deeply about the orphans, he said their care was not his primary objective. His end goal was to bring glory to God, showing Christians that God is faithful.
He said, “I desire that you may taste the sweetness of that state of heart, in which, while surrounded by difficulties and necessities, you can yet be at peace, because you know that the living God, your Father in heaven, cares for you.”
How does holding onto the truth that “God is good” help you live large? Do you have a favorite story from your life that shows God’s goodness? Because we know God is good, we can face reality and make a difference.
Elliff, Jim. “Introduction to a Million and a half in answer to prayer by George Muller.” Christian Communicators Worldwide. Published April 9, 2000. https://www.ccwtoday.org/2000/04/introduction-to-a-million-and-a-half-in-answer-to-prayer-by-george-muller/.
Müller, George. A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller, Volume 2. London: J Nisbet & Co, 1886. pp. 398–399.
Whitney, Donald S. “What George Mueller Can Teach Us about Prayer.” Crossway. July 27, 2015. https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-george-mueller-can-teach-us-about-prayer/.
Story read by: Daniel Carpenter