Young George Muller: A reflection on the shaping of young adults by Christ.
I recently began the reading of George Muller of Bristol the classic biography by Arthur T. Pierson. As is usually the case with a great biography, the life account of George Muller is challenging to my own and the things I hold dear, which in effect stand in the way of Christ. But today of particular note was the chapter entitled "New Steps and Stages of Preperation." This chapter is the account of the major events that Christ used to mold young Muller in the faith before setting him in the ministry to which he was called.
The account below is a great reminder to those who work with teens that the turbulent times of young adult life can be used to mold and shape Godly young men and women of the faith when interpreted and guided by the Spirit through prayer and God's word in their lives. As a pastor this only adds to my conviction that our students must become self-feeders on the word of God if they are to become effective as God's people.
This is a brief section account of George Muller's life between conversion and the age of about 25 from Pierson's biography on Muller:
Indeed, as we look back over these four years, they seem crowded with significant and eventful experiences, all of which forecast his future work, though he as yet saw not in them the Lord's sign. His conversion in a primitive assembly of believers where worship and the Word of God were the only attractions was the starting point in a career every step of which seems a stride forward. Think of a young convert with such an ensnaring past to reproach and retard him, within these few years learning such advanced lessons in renunciation: burning his manuscript novel, giving up the girl he loved, turning his back on the seductive prospect of ease and wealth, to accept self-denial for God, cutting loose from dependence on his father and then refusing all stated salary lest his liberty of witness be curtailed, and choosing a simple expository mode of preaching, instead of catering to popular taste! Then mark how he fed on the Word of God; how he cultivated the habits of searching the scriptures and praying in secret; how he threw himself on God, not only for temporal supplies, but for support in bearing all burdens, however great or small; and how thus early he offered himself for the mission field and was impatiently eager to enter it. Then look at the sovereign love of God, imparting to him in so eminent a degree the childlike spirit, teaching him to trust not his own variable moods of feeling, but the changeless Word of promise; teaching him to wait patiently on him for orders, and not to look to human authority or direction; and so singularly releasing him from military service for life, and mysteriously withholding him from the far-off mission field, that he God might train him for his unique mission the race and the ages to come!
In just four short years the life of George Muller was radically altered. As a student pastor there are seven with which I spend with a student in ministry and discipleship. Oh, that God may captivate the hearts of our students with the same passion that gripped the heart of Muller. May God use four years in their lives as students to strengthen their faith through tough choices, circumstances, the word of God and prayer. This is my prayer.
