Page 61 - Living Epistles

clergy.

As a student of divinity, George Muller continued a profligate lifestyle. He
stole money from friends, and lied constantly to cover his tracks and to keep
his father satisfied. In 1825 he attended a Bible Study with a friend from the
university, and it was there that God began a work of grace in his heart. In his
autobiography, George Muller describes this time.

Now my life became very different, though not so that all sins were given up
at once. My wicked companions were given up; the going to taverns was
entirely discontinued; the habitual practice of telling falsehoods was no
longer indulged in; but still a few times after this I spoke an untruth. I read
the Scriptures, prayed often, loved the brethren, went to church with the
right motives, and stood on the side of Christ, though laughed at by my
fellow students...

About Easter, 1826, I saw a devoted young brother, named Hermann Ball,
a learned man, and of wealthy parents, who, constrained by the love of
Christ, preferred laboring in Poland among the Jews as a missionary to
having a comfortable living near his relations. His example made a deep
impression on me. The Lord smiled on me, and I was, for the first time in my
life, able fully and unreservedly to give up myself to Him.

At this time, George Muller understood that his life was to be lived for the
glory of God, and that he could not give himself to the pursuit of worldly
position, material security and social success. He considered that God might
have him also walk away from the familial ties to his well-to-do family and
labor in some foreign land as a missionary. He was fully willing to give himself
to such a course, and he felt he must declare this to his father. He writes:

My father was greatly displeased, and particularly reproached me, saying
that he had expended so much money on my education, in hope that he might
comfortably spend his last days with me in a parsonage, and that now he
saw these prospects come to nothing. He was angry, and told me he would
no longer consider me as his son. But the Lord gave me grace to remain
steadfast. He then entreated me, and wept before me; yet even this by far
harder trial the Lord enabled me to bear. After I had left my father, though
I (needed) more money that at any previous period of my life, as I had to
remain two more years at the university, I determined never to take any
more from him; for it seemed to me wrong, so far as I remember, to suffer