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It is Well With My Soul
We sometimes sing a song from our hymnals entitled, “It is well with my soul.” It is such a beautiful hymn and I have found, personally, that at times I would get chills when singing the song. The song was penned in 1873 by a gentleman by the name of Horatio G. Spafford. He lived in Chicago during the 1800’s with his family and was a very successful business man known for his devout faith. However, Mr. Spafford lost everything he had in 1871 during the great Chicago fire. He invested almost everything in real estate and in a moment’s notice, his wealth was gone.
Shortly before the fire, Mr. Spafford had already been dealing with hardships of his own, having lost his only son. After the fire, he decided he was going to move to Great Britain with one of his closest friends who was an evangelist and start anew. Things were beginning to look up for Mr. Spafford and his family. In 1873 when the time had come for them to set sail and make the move to the other side of the world, Spafford was forced to stay behind in Chicago to attend to some business matters. He, therefore, sent his wife and four daughters ahead and he would follow shortly after.
The ship on which Mrs. Spafford and her daughters set sail, encountered a major accident and the ship sank in 12 minutes. After several days the survivors on the ship were brought ashore in Wales. Mrs. Spafford, among those who survived, cabled a message to her husband, “saved alone.” All four daughters had perished, and one can’t help but think Mr. Spafford was undergoing something very similar to that of Job. As he traveled to join his wife over in Wales, the ship he was on crossed the point where his four daughters eventually died, and it is there he penned the words of this hymn.
One would hardly be able to find the words for such a hard time in someone’s life. Mr. Spafford, however, understood that whatever happened in his life and whatever was to come, his soul would rest in God’s great promises. You can vividly imagine the feelings of pain and sorrow as you read the words of this song. But at the end of each verse, he could not restrain himself from praising God and putting His unwavering faith in Him. Examples like this helps to put things into perspective for us in this life. Yes, tragedy strikes and sometimes it seems it happens way too often for our liking. We may not fully understand the reasons behind each of these situations, but we can be certain of one thing: God will accomplish His promises. To those who serve Him faithfully, they will be blessed forever regardless of their pain and suffering in this life. I want to encourage you to pick up a hymnal and read the words of this song. Let is resonate with you and may we all have the same mindset as Mr. Spafford did. Is it well with your soul?
