A Christian steamship captain, a contemporary of George Mueller, once told of an experience involving Mueller’s great faith.
While sailing off the coast of Newfoundland in extremely heavy fog, Mueller came to him and said, “Captain, I need to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.”
The captain told him that it was simply not possible, due to the weather conditions.
Mueller said, “Very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way, for I have never missed an engagement in fifty-seven years. Let’s go down to the chartroom to pray.”
Again, the captain protested, saying, “Mr. Mueller, do you realize how dense the fog is?”
“No,” replied Mueller, “my eye is not on the dense fog but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.”
The captain then told how Mueller knelt down and prayed one of the simplest prayers he’d ever heard. When he finished, the captain himself started to pray. But to his surprise, Mueller put his hand on the captain’s shoulder and told him not to pray.
“First,” he said, “you do not believe God will answer, and second, I believe He has. Consequently, there is no need whatsoever for you to pray about it. Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years, and there has never been even a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door, and you will see that the fog is gone.”
The captain got up, opened the door, and sure enough, the fog was gone. And George Mueller made his appointment for Saturday afternoon in Quebec.
L.B. Cowman, Streams In The Desert, edited by James Reimann, published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; pgs. 314 & 315).