HOW IS IT WITH YOUR SOUL?
How is it with your soul? It’s a question John Wesley asked those he met and studied with regularly. With all that has happened in the past few weeks: hurricanes, flooding and shootings, how is it with your soul? Then add to those, issues we must not forget: human trafficking, abuse, hunger – and so many more – again, how is it with your soul? Perhaps your heart feels the pain in which so many live and you wonder, is there any hope for a world where love triumphs hate, peace consumes fear and joy is greater than sadness?
One truth about our world is that there will always be sadness and trials in our lives. Somehow it seems different however, when the arrows that come against us hit us from outside, from places where we don’t have any control. When a loved one dies or weather takes away everything we have ever known, it is then that the question, “How is it with your soul?” determines the depth of our faith and our trust in God. Where do we turn and how do we react when our world turns upside down around us?
The psalmist wrote, “God is our protection and our strength. He always helps in times of trouble.2 So we will not be afraid even if the earth shakes, or the mountains fall into the sea,3 even if the oceans roar and foam, or the mountains shake at the raging sea" (Psalm 46:1-3 NCV). I have always wondered how I would react in the situation below until our son was killed in a car accident and I had to live by faith. I will tell that story on another post because today I really want to share about Horatio Spafford.
Many of you may know the background story of the hymn, “It Is Well with My Soul.” Horatio G. Spafford and his wife, Anna, were prominent people in 1860’s Chicago. In 1870 things started to go wrong. The Spafford’s only son died of scarlet fever at the age of four. A year later, the Chicago Fire destroyed all their real estate holdings on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Horatio decided to take his wife and four daughters on a holiday to England to get away from their troubles. They traveled to New York in November of 1873 to catch a French steamer to cross the Atlantic. At the last-minute, a business development forced Horatio to stay behind. He saw his family onto the ship and made plans to catch up with them later.
On November 2nd, 1873, the ship carrying the Spaffords, collided with an English vessel. It sank in only 12 minutes, claiming the lives of 226 people among them were his four daughters. Only his wife, Anna, was spared.
Upon hearing the terrible news, Horatio Spafford boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife. The captain of the ship called Horatio to the bridge and said, “A careful reckoning has been made and I believe we are now passing the place where the ship was wrecked. The water is three miles deep.” Horatio then returned to his cabin, buffed by the seas and his grief, and penned the lyrics of his great hymn.
Sometimes our day may look tough but through God we can say, “It is well with my soul.” I recall the words written by Paul to the Philippian church: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Phil 4:11b-13 NIV).
Each day we choose how it is with our soul. We choose whether we find joy in the midst of pain simply because we know God is with us, sustaining us, walking with us and at times carrying us when we do not have the strength to walk by ourselves. What an awesome God we serve and love and trust! God truly desires to be our refuge and our strength. Praise be to God for his love unending.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13