Art Thou Willing To Give Up This Child To Me?

A Great Trial

“‘Surely I come quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:20-21).

George Müller (1805-1898) was a man of prayer and strong faith who depended wholly on God through all the storms and trials of life. Here is an account of “the greatest trial” he had yet experienced in July 1853:

“My beloved daughter and only child, and a believer since the commencement of the year 1846, was taken ill on June 20.

“This illness, at first a low fever, turned to typhus. On July 3 there seemed no hope of her recovery. Now was the trial of faith. But faith triumphed. My beloved wife and I were enabled to give her up into the hands of the Lord. He sustained us both exceedingly. But I will only speak about myself. Though my only and beloved child was brought near the grave, yet was my soul in perfect peace, satisfied with the will of my Heavenly Father, being assured that He would only do that for her and her parents, which in the end would be the best. She continued very ill till about July 20, when restoration began.

“On Aug. 18 she was so far restored that she could be removed to Clevedon for change of air, though exceedingly weak. … Parents know what an only child, a beloved child, is, and what to believing parents an only child, a believing child, must be. Well, the Father in Heaven said, as it were, by this his dispensation, ‘Art thou willing to give up this child to me?’ My heart responded, ‘As it seems good to Thee, my Heavenly Father. Thy will be done.’

“But as our hearts were made willing to give back our beloved child to Him who had given her to us, so He was ready to leave her to us, and she lived. ‘Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart’ (Psalm 37:4). The desires of my heart were to retain the beloved daughter if it were the will of God; the means to retain her were to be satisfied with the will of the Lord.

“Of all the trials of faith that as yet I have had to pass through, this was the greatest; and by God’s abundant mercy, I own it to His praise, I was enabled to delight myself in the will of God; for I felt perfectly sure that, if the Lord took this beloved daughter, it would be best for her parents, best for herself, and more for the glory of God than if she lived: this better part I was satisfied with; and thus my heart had peace, perfect peace, and I had not a moment’s anxiety. Thus would it be under all circumstances, however painful, were the believer exercising faith.”