It Is Well With My Soul

On November 21, 1873, the French steamer Ville Du Havre was struck in the middle of the North Atlantic by a British iron sailing ship and sank within twelve minutes. Two hundred and twenty six people died, including the four daughters of Chicago businessman Horatio Spafford. His wife Anna was plucked unconscious from a floating mast and taken to England. Nine days later she sent her husband a telegraph saying, “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

Spafford was a successful businessman and devout Christian. He had played a significant role in the Abolitionist Movement, and his Chicago home was often the site of revival and reform meetings. He had planned a European trip for his wife’s health, but at the last minute he was detained by business and sent his family on ahead.

When he received Anna’s telegraph he quickly boarded the next ship for England.
During the passage, the captain informed him they were crossing the spot were his daughters had drowned. He recorded the event in a letter to Anna’s half-sister,

“On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, the dear lambs."

At that moment, Spafford began writing the well-known hymn, It Is Well With My Soul.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has 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 has 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!

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Lessons From Middle Earth

You can learn many spiritual lessons from reading J.R.R. Tolkien.

In The Fellowship of the Rings, the company comes to Caras Galadhon, the City of the Trees and the home of the elfin princess Galadriel. She interviews each of them, and afterwards they recount their experience.

“She seemed to be looking inside of me,” said Sam, “and asking me what I would do if she gave me the chance of flying back to the Shire to a nice little hole with a bit of garden of my own.”

After Sam’s confession, they all in turn share their thoughts.

“All of them, it seemed, had fared alike; each had felt that he was offered a choice between a shadow full of fear that lay ahead, and something that he greatly desired, clear before his mind it lay, and to get it he had only to turn aside from the road, and leave the Quest and the war against Sauron to others.”

“And it seemed to me, too,” said Gimli, “that my choice would remain secret and known only to myself.”

Each of them passed the test and stayed the course, except for Boromir, whose desire for glory and power bettered him in the end.

It is a fitting metaphor for the Quest that God has placed before each of us. There is always the choice of turning from the “shadow of fear that lies ahead” and retreating to “a nice little hole with a bit of garden,” or whatever our particular fancy is. That is why there are so many warnings against it in Scripture.

“For Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me.” (II Timothy 4:10)

“From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.” (John 6:66)

“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

The test of Galadriel comes to all of us. Let us pay attention to the warning Jesus gave His disciples. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Matthew 26:41)

Living in a Van down by the River

The late Chris Farley created a character for Saturday Night Live called Matt Foley. Matt was a Motivational Speaker – but not a very good one. He lived in a van down by the river. He described his life in a skit where he was trying to motivate two wayward teenagers.


“My name is Matt Foley, and I am a Motivational Speaker! I am 35 years old. I am divorced. And I live in a van down by the river! I'm here to tell you that you're gonna find out, as you go out in the world, that you're not gonna amount to Jack Squat! You're gonna end up eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river!”

Matt’s description of his life was summarized in one metaphor: “Eating government cheese in a van down by the river.” What a perfect description of a life of wasted potential. Matt Foley is a sad picture of what happens when a person fails to find their destiny.

Destiny is the special thing that you were born to do, that no one else but you can do. The theme of destiny is everywhere in the Bible. Paul said to the church in Ephesus,

“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

The life of Jeremiah exemplifies the power of destiny. During his first encounter with the Lord, God said to him,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

Jeremiah must have been encouraged to know that God had destined him to do something significant. He certainly needed that knowledge on many occasions. He lived through the darkest time in Israel’s history, and he prophesied to a people who did not want to hear a word he said.

I wonder if Jeremiah had days when he questioned if it was all worth it. He certainly let the Lord know how he felt about his situation. That is why he is sometimes called the “Complaining Prophet.” He said,

“O Lord, You deceived me, and I was deceived. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. So the word of the Lord has brought me in-sult and reproach all day long.” (Jeremiah 20:7, 8)

But destiny has a great power to keep us on course. Jeremiah’s next words were:

“But if I say, ‘I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,’ His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:9)

Apparently, Jeremiah did not want to end up living in a van down by the river. Neither do I.

How about you?

Hold On For Dear Life

God’s Word is filled with promises, but they generally will not come to us unless we actively believe. Paul said to Timothy,

“Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” (I Timothy 6:12)

Our English phrase take hold is translated from the Greek word epilambanomai which means “to seize, lay hold of, or take possession of.” It comes from a metaphor drawn from the act of seizing someone with both hands to rescue him from peril. It is an active and aggressive word. It implies that if we want to experience God’s promises, we must take hold of them with a violent and aggressive faith.

On September 4, 1987, Henry Dempsey was flying a commuter jet about 4,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Boston. He heard a rattling sound toward the rear of the plane, and leaving the controls to his copilot, went to investigate. As he approached the tail section, the plane hit turbulence and he was thrown forward against the rear door.

The door was hinged at the bottom but not properly latched. When Dempsey crashed against the door, it opened and sucked him out of the plane. The copilot saw the ''door ajar'' indicator light flash on and immediately requested an emergency landing at the nearest airport. He radioed the Coast Guard and asked for a search and rescue operation for a pilot who had fallen out of a plane.

But the rescue was not needed. The moment Dempsey had tumbled out of the plane, he seized the outdoor ladder railings. He held on for ten minutes upside down with only his feet inside the plane. When they landed, his head was twelve inches from the ground.

When the rescue workers arrived, he could not let go of the rail. He had seized it so tightly, it took more than fifteen minutes for the workers to pry his hands free. Henry Dempsey’s amazing rescue vividly portrays the essence of epilambanomai. He seized the ladder railings the way we must seize the promises of God.

The Power of Persistent Prayer

Jesus has given us some magnificent and astonishing promises concerning prayer. All effective prayer is based on a strong confidence in these promises.

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22)

“I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13, 14)

“My Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:23-24)

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of Him.” (I John 5:14, 15)

“All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.” (Mark 11:24)

These verses make it plain that faith is an essential prerequisite for answered prayer.

The nineteenth century evangelist George Muller recounted an incident he experienced while crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner to an engagement in Quebec. During the voyage, the ship encountered a severe fog that threatened to delay its arrival. Muller found the Captain and said, “I must be in Quebec on Saturday.” When the Captain told him his request was impossible, Muller responded, “I have never missed an engagement in fifty-seven years; let us go to the chart room and pray.”

Once in the chart room the incredulous Captain said, “Mr. Muller, do you know how dense the fog is?” “No,” Muller said, “my eye is not on the fog, but on God who controls every circumstance of my life.”

He then knelt and said a simple, faith-filled prayer. When he finished, the Captain knelt and began to pray also. Muller stopped him, saying, “As you do not believe, there is no need for you to pray. Get up, Captain, open the door and you will find the fog has lifted.” The Captain did as he was instructed, only to see that the fog had lifted. Muller made his engagement in Quebec on time.

Another example from his diary shows the importance of persistent faith in prayer.

“In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two.”

These two remained unconverted. Thirty-six years later he wrote that the other two were still not converted:

“But I hope in God; I pray on, and look for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be.”

In 1897, fifty-two years after he began to pray, these two men were finally converted – after Muller’s death.