Are You OK?
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.
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Refrain: It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.
- It is Well By Horatio Spafford
- It is Well By Horatio Spafford
Horatio Spafford wrote this song in the midsts of great pain and grief. His wife and four children had been traveling to Europe when their ship was sunk in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, killing all four of his daughters. As soon as Horatio heard the news, he sailed to meet his wife in Europe, who had fortunately survived the tragedy. As he followed the same course through the Atlantic, the captain of his ship notified him as they passed over the waters where his daughters had died. In his grief, the father wrote “It is Well” as a comfort in the midst of his loss. How does a man who loses everything write about peace attending his way or rejoice that, “It is well with my soul”? Why does he not curse God for the losses he endured?
`He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
(Lamentations 3:16-20)
Jeremiah the prophet fills the book of Lamentations with his pain and grief and begs God for mercy. His city is full of unrepentance and sin. For the first half of the book, he speaks of the torment the city is enduring, including the passage above. The faith of Jeremiah and Horatio was not built on having happiness or the good things of this world. Both faced some of our worst nightmares: suffering and losing the ones we love to death. But even in the midst of that, both Horatio and Jeremiah had hope. Not a brief feeling of hope, but the hope that comes from God, that flows from the faith he gives us in our baptism and through His Word. A hope that is unshakable, no matter what may happen to us in this world. You may sometimes feel like all hope is lost but take comfort in the fact that our faith cannot be built on how we feel or life’s circumstances, but it is a gift of God, dependent only on what Christ has already done for us on the cross. As surely as Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, your sins are forgiven and you have the promise of eternal life.
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. (Lamentations 3:21-25)
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!— My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
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