The Comeback Composition

In 1741, George Frideric Handel was a broken man. At fifty-six, he had suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right side. His operas were failing. Creditors circled. London's musical elite had largely written him off. By every measure that mattered to the world, his career was finished.

Then a libretto arrived from Charles Jennens — a collection of scripture passages telling the story of the Messiah. Something stirred in the aging composer. He sat down at his desk on Brooke Street in London and began to write.

For the next twenty-four days, Handel barely ate. He barely slept. The music poured out of him like water from a struck rock. When he finished the Hallelujah Chorus, his servant found him at the desk with tears streaming down his face. "I did think I did see all Heaven before me," Handel said, "and the great God Himself."

The result was Messiah — a work that has been performed continuously for nearly three centuries, a piece of music that has brought millions to their knees before the Almighty.

Handel did not persevere because his circumstances improved. He persevered because he was given something worth pouring his broken life into. The Apostle Paul understood this: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair" (2 Corinthians 4:8).

Your season of struggle is not the final movement. The God who handed Handel a purpose in his lowest hour is the same God who meets you in yours.