It Is Well With My Soul

Psalm 46:1-2 (NIV)
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.

I have the privilege of being involved in the running of an amazing faith-based school. We pray and read the Bible before meetings, and I am always humbled by my colleagues and their lives of steadfast faith. Not long ago, at the start of a long meeting, one of those colleagues shared with us the story of Horatio Spafford, author of the hymn 'It is well with my soul'. I neither knew of the hymn nor the writer but as she told us about his life and his testimony and the 'new song' that had flowed through him, I was rapt. 

Spafford was a successful and wealthy lawyer. However, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the subsequent economic downturn in 1873 decimated his wealth. He made the decision to take his family to England to help with DL Moody’s evangelistic campaigns. Sending them on ahead, he remained in Chicago to tie up his business affairs. On the voyage across the Atlantic, however, the ship sank, and his four daughters drowned. Spafford’s wife alone survived. 

As Spafford sailed across the Atlantic to meet his wife, he wrote this hymn. Not a broken-hearted lament but rather a hymn of praise to his steadfast, never-failing God. 'Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know It is well, it is well with my soul'. This is an old song, 150 years old last November. But for me, it was a new song. Struggling with anxiety, I started playing this song every morning when I woke up; it reminded me that whether I woke filled with dread or not, my soul was in his hands, and his strength was sufficient for my day. 

 Prayer - Lord, thank you for the words of this great saint. I pray for that assurance in whatever storm I face that you are with me and remain the constant.