During the 1600s there a guy by the name of Isaac Watts (1674-1748).
He was a very gifted poet. He started composing poems when he was still a child. His poems were so good that even his mother could not believe. One day, his mother sat him down by the table and told him to write a poem. He was seven years old at that time. This was his poem:
I am a vile polluted lump of earth;
So I’ve continued ever since my birth;
Although Jehovah grace does daily give me,
As sure as this monster Satan will deceive me.
Come therefore, Lord, from Satan’s claws relieve me.
Wash me in thy blood, O Christ,
And grace divine impart;
Then search and try the corners of my heart,
That I in all things may be fit to do
Service to Thee, and sing thy praises too.
A seven year old was able to compose a poem with meter, verse, style, rhyme, as well as a poem with a deep spiritual theme: about a man in need of Christ,a man who is lost without Christ. And who is this man? Look at the first letters of every line of the poem.
When he was 16 years old, he wrote his first hymn - because i think he got bored with the songs they sang at church. His hymn was so good that people kept telling him to write more.
He became a pastor when he was 26. He become quite famous because of his hymns and poems. It spread far and wide. A lady by the name of Elizabeth Springer fell in love with Isaac from reading his poems. Her love was so great that she wrote to Isaac proposing marriage. Isaac said "yes". So Elizabeth left her place, rode a train heading to Isaac's town, got off, went to meet Isaac and ...
... went back home. Later, she described meeting Isaac: "He was only five feet tall, with a shallow face and a hooked nose, prominent cheek bones, small eyes and a deathlike color". Basically, when she saw Isaac, she said, "Nevermind!"
Isaac never married. Probably got traumatized by what happened. He focused his energy on his ministry and his composing. He composed more than six hundred hymns and hundreds of poems before he died in 1748.
During Isaac's time, his place was one of the many that suffered from the Bubonic Plague (Covid's ancestor). People died and the economy collapsed. Isaac's family also suffered persecution because of their faith. They belonged to the Non-Conformist who were being persecuted by the Conformist. Isaac's dad was in and out of jail for the rest of his life.
The point in all of these?
Despite the hurt that Isaac had to go through in his life, in his family, as well as the hardship around him, something beautiful actually came in spite of these. Despite the problems and challenges that Isaac experienced and suffered, a light shone through ... Isaac Watts was able to compose a hymn that talks about joy - even when there's pain and sadness all around.
Yes, Isaac Watts wrote JOY TO THE WORLD.
Whoever you are, wherever you may be, I not only wish you the merriest of Christmas, but also that you will experience the joy that only God can give.
info source: rayfowler.org/sermons/joy-to-the-world-psalm-98/
image source: hymntime.com
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