Few stories challenge human logic as much as that of a man who supported thousands of orphaned children without ever asking anyone for money, simply praying in secret. George Müller lived this apparent madness as routine, and his example still confronts those who mistake faith for calculation.
Born in 1805 in Kroppenstedt, Prussia, Müller had a troubled youth, far from faith. He stole from his own father, gambled, and drank, and at sixteen he spent weeks in prison for debt and dishonesty, long before any spiritual turning point.
In 1825, while still a theology student at the University of Halle, he attended a prayer meeting at the home of a Christian merchant and described that night as the turning point of his life. From then on, he abandoned his old way of living and devoted himself to Christian ministry.
He settled in Bristol, England, in 1832, and two years later founded an institution for Christian education, Bible distribution, and support for missionaries. In 1836 he opened the first Orphan House, determined never to publicly solicit donations to sustain the work.
The work grew beyond anything human calculation could have predicted. Between 1849 and 1870 he built five large houses at Ashley Down, which at one point sheltered more than two thousand orphans at the same time, sustained solely by unsolicited donations.
Life inside the orphanages was strict, with a severe routine, rigorous discipline, and little leisure time, typical of nineteenth century institutions. Some contemporaries even criticized Müller for educating the orphans beyond what they considered fitting for their social standing.
A widower of Mary Groves since 1870, he married Susannah Grace Sanger the following year and, already seventy years old, began seventeen years of missionary travels. He preached in forty-two countries, covering more than three hundred thousand kilometers alongside his wife.
He died in Bristol in 1898, a day after leading a prayer meeting; his funeral gathered ten thousand people. Over his lifetime, he cared for more than ten thousand orphaned children and left a legacy that still challenges churches to trust in God’s provision.
