Surrender, Self-will, and the Death of Me

Does God really answer prayer?  Where is He in our world?  Is He still active or has he finally tired of His rebellious creation and just left us to our own devices?

How do we deal with these questions?  God offers us assuring answers in the Bible.  However, we must also ask, “If God Word is really true, where is the evidence?”  If God’s word is true, I should be able to see evidence of that truth in the world around me.  If it is only a theoretical truth, and cannot be actively demonstrated in this world, then it might as well be a fairy tale.

Some will answer these questions by saying, “Well, we just have to have faith.”  But in response, one could ask, “Faith in what?  Faith that God is there, but he really doesn’t do anything and really won’t intervene in the world?  What good is that?”  The ‘faithful’ may respond with mumblings and a few cryptic-sounding verses, but in the end it all sounds hollow.

I have seen God act radically in the lives of people in answers to prayer.  But sometimes, I need a reminder of how powerful he is and what he will do in the lives of those that are completely committed to him.

I’ve just finished reading George Müller, Delighted in God by Roger Steer for the second time.  Every time I read it, God uses a message from this book to speak to me in a new and fresh way.

Müller set out to display the power of God in our world by establishing a home for orphans purely and simply by relying on God.  He took in the first handful of orphans in April of 1836 and by the time of his death 62 years later, he had cared for 10,000 children and had been given nearly £1,500,000 for the work.   He also sponsored missionaries all over the world and distributed millions of Bibles, Testaments, and religious books.   He had no active profession that paid a salary; he depended solely on God to provide for his needs.  Here is his mission in his own words:

Now, if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained without asking any individual, the means for establishing and carrying on an Orphan-House; there would be something which, with the Lord’s blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the consciences of the unconverted, of the reality of the things of God. (p. 237)

There is so much to say about his life, but this particular interchange is what has captured my attention:

‘What is the secret of your service for God?’ someone once asked Müller.

‘There was a day when I died, utterly died,’ he replied, and as he spoke he bent lower and lower until he almost touched the floor, ‘died to George Müller, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will — died to the world, its approval or censure — died to the approval or blame of even my brethren and friends — and since then I have studied to show myself approved only unto God.’ (p. 227)

Müller’s response brings to mind the words of Jesus from the book of John:

John 12:24: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (ESV)

John15:4-5: Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

And also the words of Paul in Galatians 2:20:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I don’t yet know the answer to how one dies to self.  But I do know that every mightily-used servant of God has done it.  Oddly, none of them provide any details on how it happened, just that it did indeed happen.  Lord Jesus, show the way.

Related posts:

1. Paul’s Prayer
2. The Shoulders of Giants
3. Listening to God
4. Bridging the Old and New