This Englishwoman was 48, was married to a London-area minister, and contributed twenty hymns to a collection that her minister-husband published. You can tell from the poetry that she wrote that it might have been her husband who had in mind the question “O Why Not Tonight?”, perhaps as a closer for a message that he used to coax a crowd of listeners. Was it a nighttime service when Elizabeth Reed and her husband (Andrew) first spoke these few words, which were published in 1842? Or was the ‘tonight’ just a metaphor for the people with whom he reasoned, folks he thought he might not see again, and who might not have another opportunity to make their eternal destiny secure? This kind of message – and warning, really – does not grow old, and is not confined to just one country on the planet (see the Reeds’ native England’s flag here). Urgency is not something to be ignored, they might have said.
Elizabeth and Andrew Reed both wrote a handful of hymns while ministering in the London area, where they were reportedly involved in many charitable activities. Those efforts must have contributed to a desire to touch the lives of those they met, including addressing more than the physical needs those people might have had. There’s no record to indicate what Elizabeth Reed’s precise reason was for composing ‘O Why Not…’, but her words show she was very conscious of people’s spiritual condition. And so, she did not beat around the bush when the time came for making a most consequential decision. ‘Why not?, she asks repeatedly. She voices some immutable truths about all of us, that we will eventually not see ‘…tomorrow’s …sun rise..’ (v.2). If that seems depressing, it is nevertheless absolutely true. But, she reminds hearers of another absolute truth: it is He who can lift us above the penalty we would otherwise pay. God or His way are variously described as ‘the Word’ or ‘light’ (v.1), and ‘Lord’ (vv.2,5), but it’s interesting that He’s not posed as a God who will judge or condemn us for unbelief (though that is true). Instead, the ever-present struggle and source of spiritual disease is within us – a ‘harden (ing) (of) your heart’ (v.1), and ‘long deluded sight’ (v.2) and ‘stubborn will’ (v.3) are the debilitating human tendencies that Elizabeth must have observed constantly. Meanwhile, He watches us ‘in pity’, with ‘His love’ available to us if it’s ‘requite(d)’ (v.3). Elizabeth’s prescription for ending the internal battles we humans and our environment wage is to keep asking the question that is the song’s title, and then conclude each verse with the only rational choice -- ‘Be saved…’. Who wouldn’t do that, if given the opportunity? The Reeds were present to make certain that people knew each soul was not in a hopeless state. There is a solution.
How many answered the questions that Elizabeth posed with a ‘yes’? We can only guess that more could have answered ‘yes’ than actually did when given the choice. Maybe the Reeds’ charity work helped them get a foothold with those to whom they spoke, perhaps with some who otherwise might have rejected their message out-of-hand. Nothing will bring attention to my being like a struggle, so one can imagine that Elizabeth and Andrew Reed sought out those who were in straits. Am I in that place, too? Take a peek through a looking glass. It could be a rearview mirror you’re using, or maybe a telescope that helps you see something that’s still off in the distance; or, maybe you’re staring right at your own mug in a mirror, today. Whatever time it is, a skirmish is part of the landscape where I’m at, or have been, or will be in the future. Elizabeth didn’t ask another question, but maybe it was implicit in her poem: Are you tired of the struggle? If ‘yes’, she had an answer, the only one that makes sense.
Very brief biography of author: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/r/e/e/d/reed_eh.htm
See more biographic information here: https://hymnary.org/person/Reed_EH
Four verses of the song here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/w/h/y/owhynott.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment