p. 7 | A Testimony to the Living God by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 2, 1914

A Testimony to the Living God

By W. A. S.

An obscure pastor, in the west of England, was distressed by the general lack of faith in God. “I longed,” he said, “to have something to point to as a visible proof that our God and Father is the same faithful God as ever he was, as willing as ever to prove himself to be the living God.”

Praying for guidance in the matter, he was led to establish the work which grew into the great Bristol Orphanages. The enterprise truly was, as George Mueller desired it to be, a testimony to the living God, who hears prayer and does things on earth. That this might be evident to all, Mueller considered it fundamental in the purpose that neither he nor his fellow workers should ask help of any man, but only of the Lord, in prayer. His thought was,—

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.

The work began in 1835. As it grew from year to year, George Mueller’s journal traced the record of daily dependence on God. Again and again, with no supplies for the next meal, the need was urged before God in prayer, and the help came. The entry in the journal for Dec. 1, 1842, reports ninety-six orphans in the homes, and a shortage of supplies and money. “We were unable to take in the usual quantity of bread,” says the record. “It may be asked,” wrote Mueller here, “Why do you not take the bread on credit?” And then he tells why he considered it essential that there should be no borrowing in that particular enterprise, no taking of goods on credit. He says:—

The chief and primary object of the work was not the temporal welfare of the children, nor even their spiritual welfare, blessed and glorious as it is, and much as, through grace, we seek after it and pray for it; but the first and primary object of the work was to show before the whole world and the whole church of Christ that even in these last evil days the living God is ready to prove himself as the living God by being ever willing to help, succor, comfort, and answer the prayers of those who trust in him. . . . From the beginning, when God put this service into my heart, I had anticipated trials and straits; but knowing as I did, the heart of God, through the experience of several years previously, I also knew that he would listen to the prayers of his child who trusts in him, and that he would not leave him in the hour of need, but listen to his prayers, and deliver him out of the difficulty, and that then, this being made known in print for the benefit of both believers and unbelievers, others would be led to trust in the Lord. We discern, therefore, more and more clearly that it is for the church’s benefit that we are put into these straits; and if therefore in the hour of need we were to take goods on credit, the first and primary object of the work would be completely frustrated, and no heart would be further strengthened to trust in God; nor would there be any longer that manifestation of the special and particular providence of God which has hitherto been so abundantly shown through this work, even in the eyes of unbelievers, whereby they have been led to see that there is, after all, reality in the things of God.—Life of Trust, page 237.

Mueller never laid down his own method as the rule for others. He felt only that, with the special call that he had to let the work bear witness to God’s daily oversight and faithful providence, he must never assume the burden himself, but must wait on God, going only so far as the Lord made a way. And day by day the Lord vindicated his faith in a wonderful manner. At last the time came for enlargement, and a building fund for new orphanages, on their own ground, began to come in. Of his experience in securing the land where the great institution was finally placed, on Ashleydown, near Bristol, Mr. Mueller says in his journal for the year 1846:—

February 4. This evening I called on the owner of the land on Ashleydown, about which I had heard on the second, but he was not at home. As I, however, had been informed that I should find him at his house of business, I went there, but did not find him there either, as he had just before left. I might have called again at his residence at a later hour, having been informed by one of his servants that he would be sure to be at home about eight o’clock; but I did not do so, judging that there was the hand of God in my not finding him at either place; and I judged it best, therefore, not to force the matter, but to “let patience have her perfect work.”

February 5. Saw this morning the owner of the land. He told me that he awoke at three o’clock this morning and could not sleep again till five. While he was thus lying awake, his mind was all the time occupied about the piece of land respecting which inquiry had been made of him for the building of an orphan house, at my request; and he determined with himself that, if I should apply for it, he would not only let me have it, but for one hundred and twenty pounds per acre instead of two hundred pounds, the price which he had previously asked for it. How good is the Lord! . . . Observe the hand of God in my not finding the owner at home last evening. The Lord meant to speak to his servant first about this matter, during a sleepless night, and to lead him fully to decide before I had seen him.—Id., page 300.

The great institution grew only as the funds came in, for it was one of the fixed principles “that there should be no enlargement of the work by going into debt.” And it is abundantly evident that this policy did not restrict nor retard the work. As the orphanages filled up, till more than two thousand children were being cared for at a time, still it was a work of daily waiting on the Lord for supplies. Day after day closed with no balance in hand, but with each day’s absolute necessities being met. While the Lord supplied their needs so wondrously, Mueller was an economist, saving the littles conscientiously. He felt that only so could he expect God to hear and answer.

Mr. Mueller was drawn to pray also for help for foreign missionaries in that time of missionary expansion in far lands; and many gifts were sent him for this work, and for Bible distribution. He says of the help sent missionaries:—

It has frequently, yea almost always, so happened that the assistance which God has allowed me to send to such brethren has come to them at a time of great need. Sometimes they had no money at all left. Sometimes even their last provisions were almost consumed when I have sent them supplies.

In a summary of this man’s life, by the late Dr. A. T. Pierson, it appears that Mueller, a poor man, had in sixty years been enabled,—

1. To build five of the largest orphanages in the world, in which over ten thousand children had been cared for.

2. To give to school work over half a million dollars.

3. To circulate nearly two million Bibles and portions, and three million books and tracts.

4. To give over a million and a quarter dollars in aid of missionary work in various lands.

5. Altogether, in the sixty years, this man, without personal resources, who had less than three hundred dollars in money when he died, had had put into his hands to distribute about seven million five hundred thousand dollars.

Truly the Lord helped George Mueller to leave faithful witness, according to his desire, that God is the living God.

W. A. S.