The Choice We All Have
In Act III of Street Robber: The Story of George Müller and His Orphans, Arthur, Emma, and another orphan girl witness a heart-rending event in the life of Charlie. George walks into the dining hall and tells the three children standing there that it is a sad day. Though Charlie has lived there for some time and seen the love of Jesus, he has continually refused to learn. In order to do what is best for all of the orphans, with broken hearts they have decided that they must send Charlie away. The constable will escort him to the workhouse.
When Charlie says defiantly that any place will be better than the Orphan House, Arthur tells him about the three years he spent in a workhouse where he slept between two criminals. A defiant Emma wonders why Mr. Müller hasn’t sent Arthur away.
When Mr. Müller again speaks to Charlie about Jesus, he puts his hands over his ears. As the little orphan girl and Mr. and Mrs. Müller cry, the constable tells Charlie it is time to go. Charlie runs from the room with the constable chasing him again.
Then Emma again begins to cough and Mrs. Müller leads her off to take care of her.
In the next scene, George, Mary, and Dora discuss Emma’s condition which is grave.
Mary tells Dora that they have prayed for her, talked to her, and read the Bible to her, but that Emma wants none of it.
Suddenly, the teacher who had been sitting by Emma’s bedside rushes into the office: “You must come! It’s Emma!”
Emma struggles to raise her shoulders off the bed and tells Mr. Müller how wrong she has been. She tells them that she realizes they are being like Jesus.
Emma tells them that she sees all her failings and sins and now sees how much she needs Jesus. She asks if it is too late. Mr. Müller assures her that it is not. He tells her that those who turn from their sins and are baptized are washed clean.
Emma asks Mrs. Müller to write some letters for her.
Two days later one recipient after another reads her letter on stage. Emma tells Jane she is ready to meet her Lord.
She encourages Charlotte to let Jesus be her Lord.
She apologizes to Charlotte for being bitter and cross and disagreeable.
The girls rush to Emma’s bedside where Hattie and Jenny take care of her.
Jennie, Hattie, and the girls sing to her: “My Faith Looks Up to Thee.”
Emma dies in peace, and the girls weep.
In scene three of Act III, Arthur has just become Mr. Clark’s new apprentice . . .
. . . and the Clark children are showing him around Wilson Street.
Arthur gives the money Mr. Müller gave him when he left the Orphan House to the street beggars. The boy wishes he could be a Müller boy, too, but one of the Clark children explains to Arthur that they can’t go to the Orphan House because they have a father, though he isn’t much of a father and spends his time getting drunk. Arthur doesn’t only offer them his money, but his friendship, too.
When one of the Clark girls asks Arthur what else he received when he left the Orphan House, he tells them: three suits of clothes, a Bible, and the priceless blessing of Mr. Müller’s prayers.
In scene four, the orphans go on their annual outing to Purdown Field. While there, one of the girls asks Mr. Müller why God didn’t answer their prayers and make Emma well. Mr. Müller answers: “God did answer those prayers. Sometimes His answer is no. And it is because of her death that so many of you have begun to search for the peace that she found.”
During the picnic, some of the girls do the maypole dance.
Back in the Clark carpenter shop, Arthur sits down to write a letter of gratitude to Mr. Müller, thanking him for the education, food, clothing, and for every comfort. But, above all, he thanks him for the instruction from God’s Word.
Mr. Müller reads the letter to the staff of the Orphan House and afterwards tells them of his plans to expand their facilities so they can raise the number of orphans they care for from 300 to 700. He says that after he made the decision, God sent them the largest single donation ever.
George says: “When the day of recompense comes, our only regret will be that we have done so little for Him, not that we have done too much.”
George, Mary, and the staff begin to sing, “I Believe God Answers Prayer.”
When lights rise on the carpenter shop, Arthur and the Clarks have joined in.
Then the curtain rises on center stage where the orphans (more than fit in the photo) have joined the song.
Before the lights go down, George comes to center stage to sing the last line one more time:
There to prove He answers prayer.
He does.
while it was still dark,
Jesus got up,
left the house,
and went away to a secluded place,
and was praying there.
Mark 1:35