Hopkins: Wretchedly Glorious

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Am I reading the Psalms here? Hopkins seems to be touching all the same bases as the Bible's famed poetry book. "Pied Beauty" and "God's Grandeur" both praise God for His works in nature. "Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend" reiterates King David's ever-present question of "Why do the wicked seem to prosper more than the just?" "I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day" and "Carrion Comforts" both wrestle with depression in a Christian heart.

I obviously can't tell every detail of Hopkins' faith and whether he had any sort of heresy from these selections, but I am approving of what I see. A lot of Christians are too afraid of being blasphemous when they ask God a question or admit that they have depression of some kind. It's almost as though we remember that God is perfect and then feel the need to tell ourselves that it's wrong to judge His creation as imperfect. Bad things happen to people that we humans would like to consider "good." That's simply the way it is in a fallen world. If God never allowed evil to befall a Christian, then that Christian is never penalized for his sins. Is that justice from a just God? Hopkins, whether he intends to or not, is reminding me here that the Bible never says it's a sin to look at the world and ask God why it's so horrible. When the day is done, you can ask God the hard questions and still be praising how wonderful His creation truly is at its core. Fallen though it may be, it's the handiwork of the Almighty.

Comments

  1. Abigail BrockDecember 4, 2017 at 3:14 PM

    I love that you pointed this out. The the bad things that happen to us end can end up making us better versions of ourselves and, in most cases, grow closer to God and leads us to question whether not they were as "bad" as we thought they were. I look at it this way, if scientists and inventors didn't question why things work or act the way they do, would we be as advanced and knowledgable as we are now? In the same way, if we don't ask questions about God or the Bible how can we expect to find an answer to those questions?

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  2. Ty GoramDecember 4, 2017 at 10:59 PM

    I enjoyed the fact that Hopkins' wanted to ask questions. As humans, we are naturally curious of everything and anything. We are imperfect, but to God that's what makes us perfect.

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