It is well with my soul.

Somewhere in time, in 1873, Horatio Spafford wrote the words to a hymn we still love today, It Is well With My Soul. I have been reading a book entitled, Then Sing My Soul, by Robert J Morgan.  In this book, he focuses on the people behind some of the best loved hymns of our time.  The story of this song always amazes me.

Horatio Spafford wasn’t a song writer. He was a business man and an attorney.  He owned real estate in Chicago, but in 1871 the Chicago fire burned most of his holdings.  He poured himself into helping Chicago rebuild, but at the same time his young son succumbed to scarlet fever and died. He must have felt like Job, he lost part of his fortune and one of his children.  He had a wife and four daughters remaining and they decided to get away for a little while.  A trip was planned to go to Europe.

As they were preparing to leave a urgent business matter kept Horatio in Chicago, but he sent his wife and daughters on. They boarded a ship called the Villa de Havre.  This was a ship that had made the passage to Europe from New York several times.  This was to be its last voyage. In the middle of the night, the ship collided with another ship and slipped into a watery grave. His four of his daughters died in the crash.  His wife was saved from the water clinging to a piece of wood from the wreckage.  She wired her husband, “saved alone.”

What happens when things go from bad to worse?  In the Bible, the story of Job chronicles one such story.  Job had all the good things the world can provide and he lost it all.

Job 6:1-2(a)  (NIV) “If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas…”

Life is not perfect, it has good times and it has bad times.  What we do in the bad times define who we are as people.  Do we do like Job’s friends suggested and curse God and die, or do we search for meaning in the midst of the pain.

Horatio took a boat to join his grieving wife in Europe.  When they got to the location where the Vila de Havre sank, the captain of his ship pointed it out for him. Horatio went to his cabin, but was unable to sleep, instead he uttered the words, “it is well with my soul”.  Later he wrote this hymn based on these words.

Psalm 34:19 (NIV) “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.”

When trouble is all around, don’t focus on the trouble, look up and focus on God.  Only then can we truly say, it is well with my soul.

David Phelps and Wesley Pritchard - It Is Well With My Soul from emimusic on GodTube.