THINK ABOUT IT
IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL
What
is your favorite worship song? I don’t know if I could narrow it down to one
song but a song that would definitely make the top 10 list would be the song “It
is Well with My Soul.” Even though it was written over 100 years ago, I find the
message of this song one that from time to time, I need to remember. But really
one reason I like this song so much is because of its story.
You see, this hymn was written after a couple of horrible accidents in the author, Horatio G. Spafford’s life. The first was the great Chicago fire of October 1871. Horatio Gates Spafford was one of those who tried to help the people of the city get back on their feet. A lawyer who had invested much of his money into the downtown Chicago real estate, he'd lost a great deal to the fire. And his one son (he also had four daughters) had died about the same time. Still, for two years Spafford--who was a friend of the famous evangelist, Dwight Moody--assisted the homeless, impoverished, and grief-stricken ruined by the fire.
After about two years of such work, Spafford
decided to take his family on vacation in Europe. When they made their first
stop in Horatio Spafford was delayed by some business, but sent his family on
ahead with plans to catch up to them later. Their ship, the Ville du Havre,
never made it. Off Newfoundland, it collided with an English sailing ship, the
Loch Earn, and sank within 20 minutes. Though Horatio's wife, Anna, was able to
cling to a piece of floating wreckage and was one of only 47 survivors among
hundreds, all four of their daughters --Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie--were
killed. As soon as she could, his wife sent him a telegraph that simply read,
“Saved alone.” 
Spafford
boarded the next available ship to be near his grieving wife. When the two
finally met up each other with Dwight Moody was also present. "It is well,"
Spafford told him quietly. "The will of God be done." A short time later, as
Spafford’s own ship passed near the spot where his daughters died, the Holy
Spirit inspired him to write the word of the song “It is Well with My Soul”. The
lyrics deal with the eternal hope that all believers have, no matter what pain
and grief befall them on earth.
After
this, the Spaffords continued to devote countless hours to helping the survivors
of the Chicago fire. In 1881, they moved to Jerusalem (taking two daughters born
aft
er
the shipwreck tragedy) & helped found a group called the American Colony; its
mission was to serve the poor. The colony later became the subject of the Nobel
prize winning Jerusalem, by Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf. Horatio Spafford
died of malaria in 1888.
Sometimes life gets very difficult and bad things happen. At the same time, as Christians, when we really grab hold of the idea that God loves us and that He sent His son, Jesus, to die for us we really can say “it is well with my soul.” So whatever troubles are challenging your life, don’t every let them cloud your vision and stop you from seeing that it can and should be well with your soul. God bless.
His… Daryl Miller