My sin O 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, prasie the Lord o my soul.
My favorite hymn, It Is Well With My Soul, Written by Horatio Spafford. The story behind this hymn was that Horatio was a very rich man in Chicago. He owned much land around the lake shore and many business. When the great
Chicago fire happened, he lost most of everything. He sent his wife and two daughters to England to meet up with a evangelistic team and he would join them there later after he had finshed up some last minute details. With his wife and two daughters on ship headed to England, the ship was struck by another ship and sunk. When the news got back to the states Horatio received a wire from his wife with only three words on it. “I alone survived”
Being distraught, he himself headed to England, it is said that over the sea where the ship had sunk, he wrote the words to this song. “When peace like a river, attendth my way, when sorrows like sea bellows roll, Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well with my soul”.
What a wonderful example of faith, Horatio had. Here is a man that had everything, then in an instant, lost almost everything and still in the midst of all his sorrow and grief, he still looked to the Lord and said, “It is well.”
When I read and reflect on the words of this song, I often catch myself with teary eyes. God has blessed me immensely and I find myself complaining that I don’t have this or that. How selfish am I that I should want more when God is all I need? We as Americans are spoiled rotten kids. We have modern day conveniences, are free to travel anywhere in the US, can worship how and where we want without the worry of being put in jail or killed for our belief and yet we complain about how bad food or gas prices are and so on and so on. Stop and think about this song for just a minute. If you lost everything you owned, are you strong enough in your faith to say “It is well with my Soul?’ …. Just a thought…..