12042021 It Is Well

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our Redeemer. Thank God that Jesus has paid for our sins so that we can be at peace with Him.

One night this week, I was singing “It Is Well” while I soaked in the tub, and I realized something that I don’t think I ever noticed before. The first stanza says, “When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul!’”

Most of us know the background of the hymn and that Horatio Spafford wrote it after the loss of his daughters in a shipwreck. Based on that story, and based on the first stanza, I have always interpreted the meaning to be that he was at peace in his soul regarding his present circumstance and current trial. That he was saying, “Ok, God, I will accept whatever you send.”

I think that was probably true of Spafford, but I don’t think that’s what he was driving toward in this hymn. He was looking at a deeper soul wellness than just his state of submission and temporal peace. In stanza two, he speaks of the trials and attacks of Satan and refers to “this blest assurance … that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul.” Stanza three is about how his “sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.” In stanza 4, he longs for the day when his “faith shall be sight,” when “the trump shall resound and the Lord will descend.”

Throughout this hymn, Spafford fixed his gaze and his confidence on his eternal security, his eternal peace. No matter what happened in this life, it was eternally well with his soul on a deeper and more important level because of his salvation through Christ. He realized that every trial of this life is temporary, but that his soul was eternally safe. This life does have sorrow, but every trial of this life will end, and in the long term, in the eternal scheme of things, it is well with my soul, in spite of what is happening now.

My sister is currently struggling with Lyme disease, and I have had health struggles for many years. In a recent conversation, we were discussing how to answer the question, “How are you?” If we were to answer candidly based only on our physical state, people would stop asking, because they wouldn’t want to keep hearing it, and some of them would insensitively remonstrate us for being negative. As I battled through this dilemma, I realized that candid answers should be reserved for people who seem to really have a concerned interest, and that others should receive a broader answer. I would often answer, “I’m fine” or “I’m okay,” meaning that at a deeper level, I am okay. I am secure in God and trusting His plan for me. I think Spafford went even deeper in his hymn, meaning that he was okay because his eternity was secure. If eternity is settled, nothing else is really that disastrous.

This is what Paul was saying in II Corinthians 4:18. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” There are enough weights and burdens in this life, that if we focus on them, they will weigh us down. Although often it is impossible to completely ignore those realities, there is an extent to which we have to look past them and focus on something grander.

This is what Asaph did in Psalm 77. He was so troubled in his soul that he was tempted to think God had forgotten him or even had changed. Then he deliberately turned his thoughts to the past works of God, and he was greatly encouraged in realizing that there is no deficit in God’s power. What we see today out our front window might be really ugly, but if we will look beyond that to God and to eternity, there is a beauty and peace beyond comprehension.

May the reality of who God is and what He has done be your joy today.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA