May 05, 2020

Psalms 4:2

O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
David wanted his salvation to be so thorough, so complete, so beyond question that it would shut the mouths of the enemies of God.
That’s the way it was with George Mueller of Bristol. Before he was ten he was already an accomplished thief. The night his mother died he was wandering the streets more than half drunk after a wild night with his friends. He disgraced himself in one school after another. Even in divinity school, training to be a minister of the gospel, he was no better. He was constantly in debt and up to all tricks and schemes to supply his lack of funds. Aware that no church was likely to call him to a pastorate in his dissolute condition, he tried in vain to reform.
Then God saved him, transformed him, and gave him a ministry. Mueller determined to establish a group of orphan houses and to do so in a way which would strike dumb the voices of atheism in England. He would keep his financial needs a secret between himself and God alone. “If I, a poor man, could get means to carry on an orphan house,” he said, “it would demonstrate that God is faithful and still hears prayer.”
He succeeded. When he died, a very old man, Bristol went into mourning. Business houses closed and employees from companies all over the city lined the streets to witness the passing of one of the greatest men the city had ever known. On churches and cathedrals flags flew at half-mast and the bells were rung with muffled peals. The Bristol Times said: “Mr. Mueller was raised up to show us that the age of miracles is not past.” Professor Rendle Short, one of Bristol’s foremost surgeons of the next generation, said: “My father used to say that during the days of George Mueller agnosticism did not dare to raise its head in Bristol.” John Phillips Commentary
I wanted to use this excerpt today because I thought it beautifully explained this passage. It challenges me with this thought. Does my life prove God is real? When I die will people know that there is a real God because of the relationship I had with Him? If you’re like me, we have some work to do, but it’s a great goal to strive to. Let’s depend on God enough to make it obvious that only God could do what’s happened in our lives.
Jacob Jarriel
John Phillips Commentary