It Is Well

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  R0mans 5:1

Yesterday’s prayer requests were hard and heavy.  I sat in the worship service and thought, “Wow!” as numerous needs were listed and lifted up.  Unexpected illnesses, untimely deaths, struggles that had not ceased, and problems not yet resolved.  As ripples of concern spread through the congregation, those not affected then could only wonder, “When?”  But after the service, as I talked with some who bore those burdens and saw other afflicted friends grouped in confident prayer, the question shifted to, “How?” 

How can you close a casket and not crumble?  How can you hear a diagnosis and not fall apart?  How can you stand at a ship’s rail, stare into the deadly depths, and still sing, “It is well,”?  That’s what Horatio Spafford did.  You’ve probably heard the story, but it never ceases to inspire. Spafford was a wealthy Chicago lawyer with lots real estate, a lovely wife, and four beautiful daughters.  Then Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over the lantern, and Spafford lost many of his land holdings in the devastating fire.  Sensing that his wife’s health was failing as they aided others during the recovery, he arranged for a family vacation to Europe with plans to join evangelists Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey in a British crusade, but a last minute business deal caused his family to sail without him.  En route to Europe, their ship was struck by another vessel and quickly sank.  Mrs. Spafford survived, but all four daughters drowned. While traveling to be with his grieving wife, Spafford stared into the sea which had swallowed his daughters, then picked up a pen and proclaimed, “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.’”

How can one sing in such sorrow?  How can one stand in such loss?  Only by knowing that no matter what storms rage on the outside, you are at peace with God on the inside—and always will be.  “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”(R0mans 5:1).  When we are God’s, He is not against us but for us.  When we are His, we are assured that the One who wanted us to be at peace with Him and who loved us so much that gave His life to make our peace with Him will not allow anything to come our way that He hasn’t planned for His purpose.  Christ Himself is our peace (Eph 2:14), and through the tragedies and trials of life, He Himself will “give us peace at all times and in every way”(2 Thess 3:16).

There will come a day when the prayer requests will all be praise reports, but until then we can face the sorrows and struggles of life with peace knowing that no matter what, “Our sin, O the bliss of this glorious though, our sin, not in part but the whole, has been nailed to the cross and we bear it no more!  Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord, O my soul!”

It is well.