Charles Spurgeon was riding in a carriage with his American friend William Hatcher.
As they approached his orphanage, Spurgeon pointed out the window and said, “Yonder is my bank, where I get my money for taking care of my family of 500 children.”
Hatcher looked but saw no bank.
“There it is,” said Spurgeon, pointing to a plaque.
The words on the plaque read: “Jehovah Jireh” (the Lord will provide).
“That is my bank,” said Spurgeon. “It never breaks, never suspends, never gets empty. My children have never lacked for covering, or for food and I have no fear that they ever will” (Hatcher, Along the Trail of the Friendly Years, 249).
Spurgeon was first inspired to build his orphanage after visiting George Müller in 1855. “I never heard such a sermon in my life as I saw there,” Spurgeon said (NPSP 1:378).
When asked to say a few words after Müller’s sermon, Spurgeon couldn’t because he had “been crying all the while” (Autobiography 3:167).
Spurgeon later reflected:
“Simply by asking of God in his way, [Müller] has raised (I believe) £17,000 towards the erection of a new orphan-house. When I consider that, I sometimes think we will try the power of faith here, and see if we should not get sufficient funds whereby to erect a place to hold the people that crowd to hear the Word of God. Then we may have a tabernacle of faith as well as an orphan-house of faith. God send us that, and to him be all the glory” (NPSP 1:378).
God did send him that. Approximately eleven years later, a donation of £20,000 was given by Mrs. Hillyard, the widow of an Anglican clergyman. She was not alone. People came out of the woodwork to financially support Spurgeon’s orphanage and other urban ministries.
“The support of the College is derived from the free-will offerings of the Lord’s people. We have no roll of subscribers, although many friends send us aid at regular intervals” (Lectures 1:vii).
Here’s the underlying attitude running beneath Spurgeon’s financial faithfulness:
Spurgeon’s aim was not to get money but to give money. The more generous he was, the more God gave him to be generous with. The more open his hand, the more God filled it. And fill it he did. Spurgeon died poor because he realized his wealth was not his own.
“God has a way of giving by the cartloads to those who give away by shovelfuls” (MTP 56:451).
Yet, with the large amounts of cash flowing through his fingers, Spurgeon saw and felt the temptations of wealth. Here are a few quotes pulled from the preacher’s own wallet about the dangers of money.
1. “The more money he has, the more troubles he will have.”
“It is very difficult for a man to have much money running through his hands without some of it sticking. It is very sticky stuff; and when it once sticks to the hands, they are not clean in the sight of the Lord. Unless a man is able to use money without abusing it, accepting it as a talent lent to him, and not as treasure given to him, it will very soon happen that, the more money he has, the more troubles he will have” (MTP 54:41).
2. “Where I have known one man fail through poverty, I have known fifty men fail through riches.”
“But the Lord uses other methods with his servants. I believe that he frequently tries us by the blessings which he sends us. This is a fact which is too much overlooked. When a man is permitted to grow rich, what a trial of faith is hidden away in that condition! It is one of the severest of providential tests! Where I have known one man fail through poverty, I have known fifty men fail through riches” (MTP 34:653, italics original).
3. “It is hard to keep great riches without sin.”
“The hasty desire to rise is the cause of many a fall. . . . It is hard to keep great riches without sin, and we have heard that it is harder still to get them. Walk warily, successful friend! Growing wealth will prove no blessing to thee unless thou gettest growing grace” (ST April 1867:158).
4. “Happiness lies in the heart rather than the purse.”
“It is better to be happy than to be rich; and happiness lies in the heart rather than the purse. Not what a man has, but 