When Handel Picked Up the Pen

In the summer of 1741, George Frideric Handel was a broken man. The composer who had once filled London's grandest theaters now faced crippling debt. A stroke four years earlier had temporarily paralyzed his right arm. His operas were failing. At fifty-six, he seemed finished.

Then a libretto arrived from Charles Jennens — a collection of scripture passages telling the story of the Messiah. Something stirred in Handel. He sat down at his desk on August 22 and began to write. For the next twenty-four days, he barely ate or slept. Music poured from him like water from a rock. When his servant brought meals, he often found them untouched, and Handel in tears over the pages before him.

By September 14, he had composed the entire Messiah — 259 pages of the most transcendent sacred music the world has ever heard. The "Hallelujah" chorus alone has lifted millions of souls toward the Almighty for nearly three centuries.

Here is what stuns me about this story. God did not wait for Handel to be strong. He did not wait for the debt to clear or the health to return. He met a broken composer at a desk and poured glory through trembling hands.

Faith is not waiting until we feel ready to say yes to God. Faith is picking up the pen when everything in us says we are finished — and discovering that the Lord was only just beginning.