The Lord had said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul’s response to the Lord’s Word was, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” [2]
The Apostle Peter wrote, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” [3]
The Prophet Isaiah received two excellent revelations from God about whom God would help...
“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who dwells in the high and holy place, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” [4]
“But to this man will I look: to him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My Word.” [5]
The Lord helped George Müller to embody the truth of the sufficiency of God’s grace as he leaned on the Lord to help him provide for over 10,000 orphans. Not only this! He supported Hudson Taylor’s mission to China. He traveled over 200,000 miles after he reached the age of 70 to encourage people to trust in the Lord.
“George Müller was known for his profound humility and complete reliance on God, believing himself to be an ‘earthen vessel’ chosen and filled by God for His work. He constantly sought to point others to God and away from himself, even in his ministry. His humility manifested in his utter dependence on prayer for every need, both personal and for the orphanage he founded, refusing to solicit donations or participate in fundraising.” [6]
To the one who said, “But if I work less, I do not earn enough for the support of my family. Even now, whilst I work so much, I have scarcely enough.” He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
He advised, “My dear brother, it is not your work which supports your family, but the Lord; and he who has fed you and your family when you could not work at all, on account of illness, would surely provide for you and yours; if, for the sake of obtaining food for your inner man, you were to work only for so many hours a day as would allow you proper time for retirement. And is it not the case now that you begin the work of the day after having had only a few hurried moments for prayer; and when you leave off your work in the evening, and mean then to read a little of the Word of God, are you not too much worn out in body and mind to enjoy it, and do you not often fall asleep whilst reading the Scriptures, or whilst on your knees in prayer?”
“I longed, therefore, to have something to point the brother to, as a visible proof that our God and Father is the same faithful God that He ever was, — as willing as ever to prove himself the living God, in our day as formerly, to all who put their trust in Him.”
“Again, sometimes I found children of God tried in mind by the prospect of old age, when they might be unable to work any longer, and therefore were harassed by the fear of having to go into the poorhouse. I longed to set something before the children of God whereby they might see that He does not forsake, even in our day, those who rely upon Him.”
“Another class of persons were brethren in business.” They carried “on their business almost in the same way as unconverted persons do. The competition in trade, the bad times, the over-peopled country, were given as reasons why, if the business were carried on simply according to the Word of God, it could not be expected to do well. Such a brother, perhaps, would express the wish that he might be differently situated, but very rarely did I see that there was a stand made for God, that there was the holy determination to trust in the living God, and to depend on Him, in order that a good conscience might be maintained. To this class, likewise, I desired to show by a visible proof that God is unchangeably the same.”
“Then there was another class of persons, individuals who were in professions in which they could not continue with a good conscience, or persons who were in an unscriptural position with reference to spiritual things; but both classes feared, on account of the consequences, to give up the profession in which they could not abide with God, or to leave their position, lest they should be thrown out of employment. My spirit longed to be instrumental in strengthening their faith, by giving them not only instances from the Word of God of His willingness and ability to help all those who rely upon Him, but to show them by proofs that He is the same in our day.”
“I well knew that the word of God ought to be enough; but I considered that I ought to lend a helping hand to my brethren, if by any means, by this visible proof to the unchangeable faithfulness of the Lord, I might strengthen their hands in God; for I remembered what a great blessing my own soul had received through the Lord’s dealings with his servant A. H. Franke, who, in dependence upon the living God alone, established an immense orphan house, which I had seen many times with my own eyes. I therefore judged myself bound to be the servant of the Church of Christ in the particular point on which I had obtained mercy; namely, in being able to take God by His Word, and to rely upon it.”
“All these exercises of my soul, which resulted from the fact that so many believers with whom I became acquainted were harassed and distressed in mind or brought guilt on their consciences on account of not trusting in the Lord, were used by God to awaken in my heart the desire of setting before the church at large, and before the world, a proof that he has not in the least changed; and this seemed to me best done by the establishing of an orphan house. It needed to be something which could be seen, even by the natural eye.”
“Now, if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained, without asking any individual, the means for establishing and carrying on an orphan house, there would be something which, with the Lord’s blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the consciences of the unconverted of the reality of the things of God.”
“This, then, was the primary reason for establishing the orphan house. I certainly did from my heart desire to be used by God to benefit the bodies of poor children, bereaved of both parents, and seek in other respects, with the help of God, to do them good for this life. I also particularly longed to be used by God in getting the dear orphans trained up in the fear of God; but still, the first and primary object of the work was, and still is, that God might be magnified by the fact that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith, without any one being asked by me or my fellow-laborers, whereby it may be seen that God is faithful still and hears prayer still. That I was not mistaken, has been abundantly proved since November 1835, both by the conversion of many sinners who have read the accounts which have been published in connection with this work, and also by the abundance of fruit that has followed in the hearts of the saints, for which, from my inmost soul, I desire to be grateful to God, and the honor and glory of which not only is due to Him alone, but which I, by His help, am enabled to ascribe to Him.” [7]
[1] 1 Corinthians 15:10
[2] 2 Corinthians 12:9
[3] 1 Peter 5:5
[4] Isaiah 57:15
[5] Isaiah 66:2
[6] Google Overview
[7] The Life of Trust: being a narrative of the Lord’s dealings with George Müller, written by himself (edited and condensed by Rev. H. Lincoln Wayland, pastor of the 3rd Baptist Church, Worcester, Mass., 1861). Chapter 4: “Home for Destitute Orphans.” (In the public domain, via Project Gutenberg). George Müller (1805−1898)
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