16/05/2023
"Saved Alone " - The History behind the Hymn "It is well with my soul"
" For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river and the glory out of the Gentiles like a flowing stream..." (Isaiah 66:12 KJV)
"It is well" is a hymn of sorrow and faith. It was written by a father grappling with natural disaster and death.
Horatio Gates Spafford (1828 - 1888) was a Chicago lawyer and friend of evangelist Dwight Moody.
Soon after he had suffered the loss of his only son, he experienced financial loss in a great Chicago fire of 1871.
In 1873, to visit Moody's preaching campaign in England, he planned a trip for his family in Europe and sent his wife Anna and daughters ahead. But the ship sunk in the passage, and only Anna survived.
The shipwreck caused great loss, with two hundred and twenty six lives lost, including his four daughters.
Horatio quickly sailed to join his wife. Midway across the Atlantic, the Captain told him they were near the place where his daughters had sunk. Though grieving, he experienced this moment a supernatural "Peace, like a River" (Isaiah 66:12). In his circumstances, this peace could only be the gift of God, the "peace of God which surpasses all understanding " (Philippians 4:7).
Submitting to the will of God in this kind of circumstance is a hard thing to do, yet it is the quickest way to access the promised peace of God.
Enduring peace of God can only be experienced having made peace with God.
Peace of God doesn't flow from the abundance of what one has whether they are son's and daughters, houses and lands or fame and fortunes.
If they are the source, peace would have been far from Mr. Spafford - who lost his only son and heir; ran into financial disaster; and lost again four daughters who brought comfort to him after the loss of his son.
If they are the source, peace would have been overflowing in the homes of the ungodly and rich men of our days.
" But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose makers cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace says my God for the wicked". (Isaiah 57:20,21).
This peace, which comes when a heart submits to.His Lordship, is definitely beyond any earthly peace.
When we daily submit to the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to rule our hearts, then we will daily experience the peace , which transcends all human understanding.
Whatever your lot, you can boldly say, it is well, it is well with my soul.
