Twenty-Four Days of Holy Fire

In the late summer of 1741, George Frideric Handel was a broken man. Deeply in debt, plagued by a stroke that had partially paralyzed his right hand, the once-celebrated composer had watched his London operas fail one after another. Friends worried he would die in debtor's prison.

Then a libretto arrived from Charles Jennens — a collection of scripture passages tracing the story of the Messiah, from prophecy through crucifixion to ultimate triumph. Handel began composing on August 22nd, and for the next twenty-four days he barely ate, barely slept, and rarely left his small room on Brook Street. His servant would find meals untouched and pages of manuscript scattered across every surface, the ink still wet.

When he reached the Hallelujah Chorus, Handel reportedly told his assistant with tears streaming down his face, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself." His right hand — the one the stroke had nearly destroyed — flew across the pages.

The Psalmist writes, "Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him." Handel knew something about a right hand restored to impossible work. When God does marvelous things, the only fitting response is a song so large it takes every instrument, every voice, every shout of joy to contain it.