A Masterpiece From the Ruins

By 1741, George Frideric Handel was a broken man. The composer who had once dazzled London was now drowning in debt, abandoned by audiences who had grown tired of his operas. Four years earlier, a stroke had paralyzed his right side, and though he fought his way back to the keyboard, the world had moved on without him. At fifty-six, he seemed finished.

Then a libretto arrived from Charles Jennens — a collection of Scripture passages tracing the story of the Messiah, from prophecy through suffering to ultimate triumph. Something stirred in Handel. He began composing on August 22nd, and for the next twenty-four days he barely ate or slept. Servants found his meals untouched outside his door. When he finished the "Hallelujah" chorus, he reportedly told a servant, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the Great God Himself."

The Messiah premiered in Dublin the following spring to a packed cathedral. It restored everything — his reputation, his finances, his sense of purpose. A man the world had written off gave us one of the most transcendent pieces of music ever composed.

This is how the Almighty works. He does not look at a broken life and see something to discard. He sees raw material for a masterpiece. The apostle Paul wrote that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Your worst chapter is never your last chapter. The same God who handed Handel a second act is composing one for you.