Soli Deo Gloria - Devotional 8

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. - 1 Timothy 1:17 NKJV

            It was a dark and dense night that covered the silent streets of London as a heavy human figure made its way to a building with a small door. Creeeeak. The door was opened; he lit a candle and collapsed on a chair. Sweat was falling down his forehead; feeling that his inspiration was gone, and knowing that nobody was interested in his compositions anymore was too much to bear. This is the end of my career, he thought.

On his working table he found a package and tore off the paper. “Oratorio.”. What kind of joke is this? He stood up to throw the papers into the fire, but something stronger seemed to stop him. He decided to read it. The title The Messiah caught his attention. “Comfort ye my people.” With tears in his eyes, he took a Bible and started studying the prophecies concerning the Messiah; His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven—the whole plan of Salvation. He sat at the harpsichord and his fingers flew across the keys.

Days and nights he spent in his room, only with a harpsichord, pen, ink, paper, and the Bible. Sometimes he didn’t even eat. After twenty-four days, the work was completed, and as he left the room, his face was shining. George Frederic Handel had finished writing the great oratorio, The Messiah. When a friend of his commented on how amazing this music was, he just bowed his head and humbly replied, “God has visited me.”

What makes people from different countries and cultures stand up whenever the “Hallelujah Chorus” from The Messiah is played? Well, at the bottom of the last page Handel has written the Latin words: “Soli Deo Gloria,” which mean “all Glory to God alone.”

~ Mildred Rhys