“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” Psalm 121
Have you ever said…or heard a similar statement this time of year… “The holidays can be inexpressibly sad.”? Well, it is not a new sentiment to be sure. And if you feel this way or know someone who feels this way y’all are not alone…it is a perennial struggle.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote these exact words in his journal on Christmas Day, 1861. The poet, known for such classics as “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “The Song of Hiawatha,” had good reason to be sad on that particular Christmas. The previous July, his much beloved wife, Fanny, had been sealing a keepsake lock of their daughter’s hair in wax when a gust of wind blew through the window causing her dress to catch fire. Longfellow severely burned his face and hands attempting to extinguish the fire, but Fanny’s burns were so severe she died the next day.
That same year, the Civil War had torn the country in two. Longfellow’s son Charles joined the Union forces. The following year, he wrote on Christmas, “I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace.”
Some of you reading this will not have to imagine the pain of the first or second or maybe the 28th Christmas celebrated without a loved one because you know it only too well. Or you may know those whose anxieties are high this year because while they are home for Christmas their loved one lives are in harm’s way either deployed oversees or patrolling the streets of our cities.
With this in mind you can imagine how Henry Longfellow felt when he heard that his son had been wounded in the war. By Christmas 1864, the country had been at war for three years and thousands had lost their lives. The great poet sat down to write a poem that began, “I heard the bells on Christmas day….”
This poem (which has since become a Christmas carol…in some hymnals and on the radio at Christmas sung by people unremembered like Perry Como and Frank Sinatra) begins joyfully enough, speaking of bells as a reminder of peace…and who doesn’t like the sound of bells.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come, the belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way, the world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
But the poet’s heart is not as light as the first part of the song suggests, so he writes honestly:
Then from each black, accursed mouth the cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent the hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn the households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Perhaps you remember some Christmas when reality seemed to mock any talk of peace or joy or family harmony. Longfellow had good reason to question whether there would ever be peace on earth, whether his family would ever feel whole again. But he knew that appearances can be deceiving and he did not end on a note of despair:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.” The psalmist confirms,“He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
Although we may have good reason to be sad, that sadness need not paralyze us as believers. Though it may appear that God is sleeping, He isn’t. The Israelites waited through centuries of captivity for their Messiah, and in the fullness of time, He came. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Gal. 4:4-5)
And when He left, He did not promise that our waiting would be easy, but He promised that it would have an end. “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” (Matt. 24:21-22)When the weight of the present tempts you to bow your head in despair, look up towards the future, towards the one who will bring and has brought justice to the earth. Our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Merry Christmas
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
