Long Lay the World
I don’t know about you, but I don’t always sleep through the night. I don’t really know the reason, but sometimes I just wake up. Usually, it’s no big deal. I just fall back to sleep. Other times, though, it takes a while. Sometimes, even hours. It’s not all bad though. Often, I’ll be led to spend this time praying. I know, so spiritual, right! Not really, I’ll just realize I haven’t really prayed enough and take the opportunity.
A few nights ago, was one of those nights that I didn’t sleep through the night. When I woke up, I wasn’t led to pray, rather, a song came into my head. A song that is really a prayer of sorts. Or, at the least, a call to worship. “What song?”, you’re asking by now: “O Holy Night.” Why this song? Perhaps, since we’re in the midst of the Christmas season, Christmas and Christmas songs were just on my mind. “O Holy Night” is unquestionably one of my favorites. Or maybe, something more. Not just a beautiful song. A reminder of what a great gift we celebrate on Christmas.
“O Holy Night” is a musical masterpiece that most of us are familiar with. And because of its wide vocal range it is one of the most difficult Christmas carols to sing. The words for this beautiful song were originally penned as a poem by Frenchman Placide Cappeau in 1843 with music added in 1847 by Adolphe Adam. Later, in 1855, John Dwight translated and adapted the song in English and it has remained one of America’s most popular Christmas carols.
Every stanza and line of this beautiful song could certainly be the topic of a post, article or devotion. In fact, the stanza "Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease" resonated with abolitionists during the time it was written. Even today, this beautiful symbolism for being freed from the bondage of sin can remind us that all should be freed from the horrors of slavery. Something we should never forget.
Still, as beautiful as it is, that is not the stanza that rolled through my mind as I lay awake. Instead, after reviewing the whole song in my mind, it was “Long lay the world in sin and error pining ‘till He appeared and the soul felt its worth” that stuck. Rolling over and over and over again.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Do you feel the weight of our “sin and error?” Do you sense the anticipation of a resolution while we are “pining” away because of our sin and separation? Over and over the phrase rolled through my head. The good news is that we aren’t left to pine. The resolution has come and it is Jesus. The One we celebrate at Christmas. He is the hope. He is the promise of Christmas.
In one of the well-known Bible verses we read during the Christmas season, we hear that an angel appeared to shepherds and gave them good news. The scripture says, “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord’” (Luk 2:10-11). What a wonderful message. The Savior has come and He will bring “great joy for all people.” The Savior, the Messiah has come to release us from our sin and error.
We’ve been waiting. But He promised to save us from the very beginning. We can look all the way back to Genesis. Where it all started. Adam and Eve had eaten the tree’s fruit, being convinced by the serpent that they would gain knowledge. Here we see for the first time God’s plan to bring us back to him:
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.” (Gen 3:14-15)
From the very beginning mankind waited. But God promised that Eve’s offspring, Jesus, would crush Satan’s head and free us from our sin and error. But this isn’t the only time that God tells us that someone is coming to save us from our sin. In fact, there are over three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament with over a hundred specific details concerning the Savior. Against astronomical odds, every one of these is fulfilled in Jesus.
Mankind has waited in anticipation. We pined. “‘Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.” “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jon 3:16), the Bible tells us. Talk about feeling our worth! God gave His only Son to die for me.
So, what is our response to all of this? Well, perhaps, we should do what the song suggests, “Fall on your knees, oh, hear the angel voices.” Listen to the angel. After all, we have been given “good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
(1) Josh Groban sings “O Holy Night” with lyrics