The Story Behind the Hymn, "It is Well With My Soul"

It is well with my soul. How many of us know this song from singing it as we were growing it up? The hymn starts like this. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well. It is well with my soul. Well, how many people have taken comfort from these words? The, the writer's point is essentially this, whether times are good or whether times are bad, physical times. It's well with our soul. Our spiritual well being is and should be the focus of our life. It'll certainly be the focal point at judgment, but it needs to be the focal point now. This hymn becomes all the more impressive when you know something about the man who wrote this song. His name was Horatio Spafford. He was born way back in 1828. He and his wife moved to Chicago and there he was a fairly prominent attorney. Had a number of real estate holdings there. In 1870, their four year old son, Horatio Jr., acquired scarlet fever and passed away suddenly from that disease. And then just a year later in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, they lost a vast portion of their wealth through their real estate being, being consumed in that fire. Well, it was, it was just a few years after that. They were rebuilding, had rebuilt, certainly, their lives, and, and now they were going to go to Europe. They had a really good friend, a really good family friend by the name of Moody, very famous preacher. And he was in Europe at that time preaching and they decided that they would take a vacation, that they would sail across the sea and, and they would, they would go and listen to some of, some of his lessons. And they were looking forward to that, but as chance would have it, Horatio had to stay back in Chicago for a while to, to wrap up some business. And his wife, Anna, and their four daughters left on a ship for Europe. And it was on that journey that their ship was struck by another ship. And their four daughters, Anna, who was 11 years old, Margaret, who was just nine years old, and then Elizabeth, their five year old, and then they had a toddler, Tanetta, who was just two. All four of the girls were lost in that accident. Horatio's wife, Anna, was actually found unconscious sometime later clinging to a piece of driftwood. And, and he found out about the accident and he found out about the loss of his daughters when she sent a telegram, when she got to shore and, and was able to do so. And it essentially said, saved alone. Well, Horatio made arrangements quickly and, and boarded a ship and, and, and, and sailed towards Europe. And while he was on that journey, the captain came to him at one point and he, and he said, We are about to pass over. the very spot of the shipwreck where, where your daughters were lost. He said, I thought you'd like to know. And, and part of the of the story that's told with this says that, that Horatio Spafford went below back down to his cabin at that point. And this is when he wrote this hymn. It is well with my soul. Now, I don't know if it was actually at that point or if it was at a later date, but certainly this hymn was written with the idea of, of his great loss and the different things he had gone through in life. And yet that it still was well with his soul. This is what he wrote just a short time later to Anna, his wife Anna's sister. He said, On Thursday last, we passed over the very spot where the ship went down. But I don't think of our dear ones there. He said they are safe, dear lambs. He was confident that they were already awaiting he and his wife. In heaven. That's why he could write these words at his well with my soul. There's another verse in that, the second verse that maybe we're not as familiar with, but, but this is what it says though. Satan should buffet though trial should come. Let this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate. And hath shed his own blood for my soul. It was Horatio's way of saying regardless of the hard things in life and sometimes the evil things. in life that still he has that assurance that Christ has shed his blood for our sins and therefore we have a hope of eternity with him. Eternity, not this short life, this brief life that for many people comes complete with a lot of heartaches and a lot of sorrows. How do people hang on? Well, if they're like Horatio Spafford, they do so by their faith in God and their faith in Christ. and the assurance that they have that it's well with their soul. So how about you? How are things going for you? Have you been through some difficult times? Maybe you have been through some things that hardly anybody you know has, has even come close to as far as the, the trials that you have suffered or the grief that you've experienced. And you might have wondered at times. Why me? Have you thought about handling it in the way that Mr. Spafford did? There's no question that he grieved. There's no question that there had to be times where he thought things along the lines of, why me? But when it came down to writing down how he really felt, whether it was in a private letter to family or whether it was in a hymn that millions have sung through the years. He let people know, good times or bad, that because of what Christ had done for us, it is well with his soul. Is it well with yours? In Isaiah, the 48th chapter, in verse 18, Isaiah has been warning Israel about the consequences for their sin. Some of them have already experienced some pretty serious things. But God had warned them over and over, you need to repent. God did not want to bring the punishment upon them, but that was the only way that God could get their attention, that he could get them to come back to him. Or at least the only way for some of them, certainly some had repented. But for those who didn't, in Isaiah 48, 18, think about this as a letter from a loving father, a father perhaps writing out of heartache because of what his children have had to go through because of their own doing. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. We can choose to go through life any way we want to. But, but life is still going to happen to us all, whether, whether we are trying to serve God or, or whether we don't think about God at all. Maybe you don't even believe in God, but, but isn't it a comfort for those of us who by faith know that it is well with our soul that regardless what happens in life, whether we're talking about the highs of the good times or the lows of, of the times of grief. that it's still well with our soul. Whereas God said, if you just listen, your peace would be like a river. But then at the end of this he, he, he makes this point in verse 22 of, of Isaiah 48, talking about those who refuse to accept his standards and, and his commands. There is no peace says the Lord for the wicked. I've, I've often wondered how people. who do not have a faith in God can get through some of the things they go through. And my observations so often with such people has been not very well. They, they crumble. They, they rail against everything, even against the God who they claim they don't believe in. They ask questions like, how could a loving God do this? And you just fill in the blank. We have to be careful with that. Job when he went through all he did, He lost his wealth. He lost all of his children in one terrible accident. His response was, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Let the name of the Lord be praised. Well, this was an admirable attitude, but, but when he said the Lord takes away, we have to understand that it was Satan who took away in this instance. It was Satan who had, who had decided to test Job and God who permitted it for whatever reason. Perhaps it was to give us an illustration in what true patience and true perseverance could accomplish. I don't know. None of us really knows. why God permitted Job to go through what he did. We know it was for the right reason. We know that his reasons, God's reasons, were perfect. But I want to point out again that Job thought it was God who was doing all this to him, when in fact it was Satan. But still, Job's, Job's commitment was God has given many things to me and now he appears to have taken them away, but I'm still going to praise the name of the Lord. There was a point where his wife when Job became ill, he had sores that were so terrible they were just all over his body and he would take a piece of pottery and, and scrape those soles, those sores, and his wife finally, in her desperation, Remember, she too had lost her wealth, she too had lost her children, and now she's watching her husband suffer tremendously. And she's reached her breaking point, and in a, at her moment of desperation, she said to Job, Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die. And do you remember what Job's response was? He said, You're talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not evil? And again, he still didn't realize that what was happening was from Satan, but, but his attitude was, was wherever the source of this is from, if we accept good from God, we, we also need to accept the bad times. And he worshiped God and he gave praise to God. And of course, Job was the excellent example, though he made some mistakes along the way, the excellent example of, of patience and perseverance under suffering. I don't know about you, but I don't like suffering. I, I, I pray often that, that God will watch over us so that we don't have to experience so many of the things that all of us would prefer not to go through, but we still all have to have that mindset. In good times and in bad, we will praise the name of the Lord. In good times and in bad, we will rely upon God. In good times and in bad, we will still look forward to that moment that we have with God and our faithful loved ones in heaven. Not because they deserve to be there, nor because we deserve to be there, because we all know what we really deserve. But, because of the grace of God and the sacrifice Jesus made, that we have an opportunity to do our small part. And when we do, we're guaranteed that God and Christ will do their great part. How can we say anything else other than, it is well with my soul. If you've been struggling with things, and if you've been trying to do it alone, You may believe in God, but, but you may just kind of look at him as, as a last ditch effort for for help in times of trouble. Let me encourage you to, to, to deepen your faith, to read his word and to gain the knowledge of his great promises, to gain insight amongst those who have been through. The difficult times, but, but have made it successfully Hebrews chapter 11, the the book of faith talks about so many people who went through so many trials yet because of their faith, they had a hope of an eternity with God. There's a passage that talks about such people show that they're not living for this world. But that their hope is of their heavenly home. When you and I need help, who do we turn to? So often it's to the government. So often it's a phone call to our insurance people. So often it's to family or friends or whoever can help. And there's nothing wrong with seeking help of people. But if your first inclination is not to turn to God with thanksgiving for helping you to get through this. through it to this point and with a humble plea to ask for his help so that you might continue to get through this to the point where you can honestly say, it is well with my soul. This is what you and I need to be doing. This is how we need to live. And if we haven't, we need to change because we're living a subpar life because of that. But if we can put our faith truly and deeply in God and in Christ. Then, like Horatio Spafford and his wife, and so many other faithful men and women who have gone before us, we can honestly say, Even in the most difficult times, it is well with my soul. That's it for today. I hope it gives you something uplifting to think about, especially if you're going through times of trial and you need something uplifting to hang on to. That anchor for your soul is Christ and it's God. Turn to them, ask for their help, put your trust in them, and then you can honestly say, at some point, it is well with my soul. Appreciate your listening today and pray that God will richly bless you.