By Randy Ballinger
Christmas Day 1863 was not joyful for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. On that day, he was concerned his eldest son would not survive surgery after being shot while serving as a soldier in the Union Army. While he waited, his mind focused not only on the well-being of his son, but also, no doubt, on his wife who died just two years earlier in a horrible fire. Add to that the mental strife caused by the ongoing Civil War, and it was more than he thought he could endure. For Longfellow, the bells of Christmas fell silent as he penned these words:
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.”
But Longfellow refused to stop listening. It was as if he heard “a voice, a chime, a chant sublime” reminding him of the truth of God until, from the silence,
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.”
Have the bells been silenced for you this Christmas season? Maybe, for the first time in your life, your father is not around to celebrate with you. Maybe the pandemic is taking its toll on you physically or mentally or both. Perhaps you’re burdened with the relentless spiritual attacks of the evil one.
Whatever has caused the bells to be silent in your life, don’t stop listening! Be attentive—the truth of God resounds by gathering around this table.
God knows his creation has been ravaged by Satan and infected by sin. He knows you are its victim. And, through Jesus Christ, he has done something about it.
He didn’t come with a sudden display of might, but with a silent display of vulnerability—as a baby in a manger.
He did not remain a faraway Creator, but became “Emmanuel,” God with us! He lived among us, identified with us, even wept while here.
He died for us so we wouldn’t have to. He overcame death and sin.
In a word, God gave us hope . . . hope through Jesus Christ.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith . . . may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:6-9).
If we listen intently as we gather around this table, we will hear “the unbroken song of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Randy Ballinger lives with his wife, Gina Ann, near New Paris, Ohio. He is an elder with the Centerville (Indiana) Christian Church.
Author: Christian Standard
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