Like most Americans, I have prayed deeply for the families in Connecticut who lost children. I have been angered by the evil that seems ever present,  and I have recommitted myself to preaching the truths of God’s love and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  While thinking and praying, the words of a Christmas Carol I had heard earlier today came to mind.

I don’t think that I knew that Henry Longfellow wrote “I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day” until I looked up the words after a friend quoted them today on Facebook. But what he wrote as a poem on Christmas Day, 1863, was turned into this great hymn a few years later. He wrote of the joys of the season:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Apparently, as he came to the third stanza he was stopped by the thought of our country. The horrible Civil War was in full swing. The Battle of Gettysburg was just six months past. The Days were dark, and there was no peace and little good will on Earth. And so he added a very honest stanza:

As in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to man!”

But his thoughts returned to what Jesus promised us is true now in our hearts and will be completely true some day:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Today’s event was a horrible reminder of our need for God.  Human beings are hopelessly lost, and only the hope of “peace on Earth, good will to men” through Jesus will save us.