In the commencement of December I went to Collumpton, where I preached several times, and likewise in a neighboring village. In driving home from the village late at night, our driver lost his way. As soon as we found out our mistake, being then near a house, it struck me that the hand of God was in this matter; and having awakened the people of the house, I offered a man something if he would be kind enough to bring us into the right road. I now walked with the man before the gig, and conversed with him about the things of God, and soon found out that he was an awful backslider. May God, in mercy, bless the word spoken to him, and may we learn from this circumstance, that we have to ask on such occasions, why the Lord has allowed such and such things to happen to us. Since the publication of the first edition, one day, about eight years after this circumstance had happened, the individual who drove me that night introduced himself to me as a believer, and told me that on that evening he received his first impressions under the preaching of the Word. The missing of the right road may have been connected with his state of mind. May I and my fellow labourers in the Gospel be encouraged by this, patiently to continue to sow the seed, though only after eight years or more we should see the fruit of it. I only add, that up to that time, the individual had been a very dissipated young man, who caused his believing parents very much grief. Their love led them to convey me and my wife to this village and back again, and truly the Lord gave them a reward in doing so.

Quotation From page 57, paragraph 2; “Preface To The First Edition Of The First Part,” A Narrative Of Some Of The Lord’s Dealing With George Müller By George Müller, Part 1; First Edition Manuscript.

We can see many lessons here:
1) That God guides us on paths we do not know, sometimes through seeming mistakes.
2) That God will do many things to reach out to people who are lost.
3) In connection to #2, God listens to the prayers of His people, like the parents of this man.

I am sure that we can identify with this experience of George Muller. God always leads us, and, like the time He kept Paul from Asia in order to send him to Europe (Acts 16:6.) But God led John to Asia instead of Paul, a man more suited to evangelize Asia than Paul.

This shows us that although we may not know the purpose of God, and even oftentimes desire the direct opposite, this is better for us. Muller was led to this young man, just as Paul was led to Europe.

Question: Is God leading you in a direction that you do not really want to go?
Can you remember a time in the past that God has blessed you unexpectedly in a “bad” situation?