God is Not Dead, Nor Doth He Sleep

One of my favorite Christmas carols is "I Heard the Bells".  Written on Christmas Day 1863 in the midst of the American Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow speaks candidly of the brokenness and human suffering that result from man's fall into sin:

"It was as if an earthquake rent / The hearth-stones of a continent."
"And with the sound / The carols drowned."
"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!'"

Though our circumstances vastly differ from Longfellow's, it's not difficult to resonate with his words. The brokenness of sin has left cannonball craters in our lives, too. And, while I don't fully comprehend this, Christmas Day has an almost mystical ability to amplify not only the joys of what we've been given but also the sorrows of what we've lost.

Yet there is overwhelming hope in the midst of this sorrow.
To be clear, there's no hope in ignoring the pain, pretending it's not there. There is no hope in the dopamine hit of self-medicating through buying things or food or drink.

Doubtless reflecting upon the tragic loss of his wife two years earlier and the real danger his son was in on the battlefield, Longfellow clung to that only true hope:

"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.'"

Sin, Satan, and Death lost their war of cosmic treason upon the cross of Jesus Christ, and the brokenness caused by their fury has an expiration date. Right has a name, and He will prevail. There is no pain that a billion years (or even an instant) in the presence of Jesus cannot redeem. As another poet, Thomas Moore, wrote, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.”

So, acknowledge the real brokenness in your life and in the world this week. Then rejoice! Christ has come! Christ has died! Christ is risen! And Christ is coming again to take us into His New Creation!