Unclouded skies and gentle winds do nothing to test our vessel of faith. It takes the storm and the tempest to prove the strength of our trust in Almighty God.
The prophet Isaiah records that God keeps in perfect peace all who trust in Him (Isaiah 26:3). Nowhere is that truth more aptly illustrated than in the story behind the hymn It Is Well With My Soul.
Horatio G. Spafford lived with his wife and four daughters in Chicago. He was a lawyer by profession and a devout, sincere Christian. One day in 1873 he stood on the quayside and bid farewell to his family as they set sail to visit relatives in Europe. He did not know that he would never see most of them again.
Some days later their ship, bound for Le Havre in France, collided with another vessel in the mid-Atlantic and sank almost immediately. Before it went down, Mrs Spafford was able to pray with her children and commit them to the mercy of the Lord. It was the last time she would see them on this earth.
When she arrived in Britain with the rest of the survivors, she sent her husband a short but telling message: “Saved alone.”
A lifeboat found Mrs Spafford and she was rescued. The words of her telegram struck Horatio Spafford with full force and plunged him into deep sorrow. He left for England without delay to comfort his grief-stricken wife.
The great American evangelist D. L. Moody and his associate, the singer Ira D. Sankey, were conducting a campaign in Edinburgh at the time. They were personal friends of the Spaffords and came to give whatever help and comfort they could. They found their friends in surprisingly good spirits, strong in faith and able to say through their tears, “It is well; the will of God be done.”
Out of that sorrow, Horatio Spafford wrote the hymn It Is Well With My Soul in memory of his four precious daughters, each of whom had received Jesus Christ as Saviour before that fateful voyage.
It would be very difficult for any of us to predict how we would react in circumstances like those the Spaffords faced. But we do know that the God who sustained them will also be with us. Whatever overtakes us, may we be able to say with Horatio Spafford:
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.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.