GEORGE MÜLLER was a leader in the Plymouth
Brethren movement, a faith mission advocate, and the founder and director of
orphanages during the 1800s in Britain. He was known for his faith and prayer
life. Never directly appealing for funds, Müller relied only on prayer for
the support of his orphanages and his mission work. He never drew a
salary, always trusting that God would meet his needs. His faith was
rewarded—God always met the needs of his orphanages and mission organizations.
Müller experienced a severe test of his faith when on February
6, 1870, his beloved wife, Mary, died of rheumatic fever. She had not been
well for three years, and the rheumatic fever overcame her in her
weakened state. After six days of terrible suffering, she died.
Müller wrote in his diary that day: “39 years and 4 months
ago, the Lord gave me my most valuable, lovely and holy wife. Her value to
me, and the blessing God made her to me, is beyond description. This blessing
was continued to me till this day, when this afternoon, about four o’clock, the
Lord took her to Himself.”
February 11 he wrote: “To-day the earthly remains of my
precious wife were laid in the grave. Many thousands of persons showed the
deepest sympathy. About 1,400 of the orphans who were able to walk followed in
the procession. . . . I myself, sustained by the Lord to the utmost,
performed the service at the chapel, in the cemetery, etc.”
He chose Psalm 119:68 as the text of the funeral sermon:
“You are good, and do good.” His message had three points: (1) The Lord
was good, and did good, in giving her to me. (2) The Lord was good, and did
good, in so long leaving her to me. (3) The Lord was good, and did good, in
taking her from me.
In discussing his third point he told how he had prayed for
her during her illness: “Yes, my Father, the times of my darling wife are in
Thy hands. Thou wilt do the very best thing for her and for me, whether
life or death. If it may be, raise up yet again my precious wife—Thou art able
to do it, though she is so ill; but howsoever Thou dealest with me, only help
me to continue to be perfectly satisfied with Thy holy will.”
Müller felt that God had answered his prayer, both in how he
dealt with Mary and how he dealt with his own heart:
Everyday I see more and more how great [is] her loss to
the orphans. Yet, without an effort, my inmost soul habitually joys in the joy
of that loved departed one. Her happiness gives joy to me. My dear daughter and
I would not have her back, were it possible to produce it by the turn of the
hand. God Himself has done it; we are satisfied with Him.
As a husband, I feel more and more every day that I am
without this pleasant, useful, loving companion. As the Director of the
Orphan Houses, I miss her in numberless ways and shall miss her yet more and
more. But as a child of God, and as the servant of the Lord Jesus, I bow, I am
satisfied with the will of my Heavenly Father, I seek by perfect submission to
His holy will to glorify Him, I kiss continually the hand that has thus
afflicted me; but I also say, I shall meet her again, to spend a happy
eternity with her.
A close friend reported that after the funeral Müller sat at
the vestry table, buried his face in his hands, and did not speak or move for
two hours. But in his loneliness and grief he could still say to the Lord, “You
are good and do good.”
Source: One-Year Book of Christian History Devotional, pages 74-75
