It Is Well

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." ~Isaiah 43:2-3a

Perhaps you have heard the story behind our beloved hymn, “It Is Well with My Soul” (Trinity Hymnal #691). The author, Horatio Spafford, was a successful lawyer and investor who lived in Chicago in the mid-1800s. He was also a Ruling Elder at his local Presbyterian church. He was married to Anna and had four young daughters.

Spafford was not a stranger to tragedies in his life. For example, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 — a three-day inferno that destroyed 2,100 acres of Chicago — devastated Spafford’s investments and finances. And yet, his hardship didn’t end there. Two years later, Spafford decided to take his family for a holiday to the United Kingdom. As they were about to depart, Horatio was detained with business matters, so he sent his wife and young daughters ahead, with the plan to join them later in the United Kingdom. Anna and the girls embarked across the Atlantic on the SS Ville de Havre on November 21, 1873. Deep into the journey, the ship crashed into another ship, the SS Lochearn, killing over 200 people, including all four of Spafford’s daughters. An unconscious Anna, floating on debris, was rescued and transported to the United Kingdom without her girls.

Anna, of course, was heartbroken. Speaking to fellow survivor Pastor Weiss, she said, “God gave me four daughters. Now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why.” Upon arrival in England, she sent a brief telegram to Horatio: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

Horatio immediately boarded a ship for England. During the journey, the captain summoned him to inform him they were sailing over the very spot where his four daughters drowned. Horatio would later write to his sister-in-law, “On Thursday last we passed over the spot she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs.” After sailing over the spot where his daughters drowned, Spafford retired to his cabin and composed the following lines:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul.”

Surely a man can only write such words at such a time if he is upheld by the grace and power of God — if he is upheld by the God who said, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you."

Maybe that’s your experience. There are times in your life — deep, dark valleys —when by God’s grace you’ve still been able to say, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed … knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence” (2 Cor. 4:8-9, 14). This was the testimony of our precious sister to whom we said goodbye yesterday. Afflicted but not crushed, joyfully resigning herself to the God who would not allow her to be overwhelmed by her suffering, she trusted that she would rise with Jesus into the presence of her Father. And she has. Praise the Lord.    

Rev. Rob Dykes, Pastor of Preaching & Congregational Care

Christ Covenant Church