****IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

Horatio Spafford was a wealthy Chicago lawyer and businessman in the mid-1800s.  He and his wife, Anna, had five children.  In 1871 his youngest became ill and he died.  Shortly after that, the great Chicago fire wiped out his home.  His insurance company wouldn’t cover the loss because it was deemed an “Act of God.”

In 1873 he decided to take his family to help his friend, D. L. Moody with some evangelism services in England.   Just before their departure, a business emergency interrupted his trip so, he sent his wife and four daughters ahead and planned to meet up with them later.

After several days, his wife wired a message; their ship had collided with another and sank.  All four of his daughters had perished in the wreck.   Anna’s message was, “saved alone, what shall I do?”

In just two years, they had lost all five of their children.

Horatio left immediately to be with his grieving wife in England.

On the way, he wrote the lyrics to the hymn, “IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.”

We usually think of this hymn in the context of comfort for those who are grieving.  In the first stanza, we get a glimpse of Horatio’s faith during a time of unbearable grief; “When sorrows, like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’”

Well, that is the short story, but beyond the sorrow, this hymn has another dimension; our sin natures.  The prophet, Isaiah, described our human condition like this: “But we are all like an unclean thing” (Isa. 64:6).

By using that phrase, he may have been alluding to the disease of leprosy.

Leprosy is a stinking, reeking mass of rotting, dead flesh.  It’s disgusting; it’s repulsive; it oozes with puss and blood.  Can you imagine someone trying to cover his leprosy with fine white silk garments?  That wouldn’t change the facts.  The diseased flesh would still stink, and the uncleanness would begin to bleed through the fabric until the fine silk becomes as corrupt as the man.

And that’s how God sees men who attempt to clean themselves up and cover the disease of their sin with religious good works.  The prophet continues; “All our righteousnesses (good works) have become as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6).

Several years ago my pastor preached a series through the Ten Commandments and those sermons exposed our true conditions; we are all sin-stained lawbreakers.  So, every Sunday, I left feeling rotten about my sin.  And if you feel that way, that’s evidence of the convicting work of the Spirit of God in you.

In his third verse, Spafford expressed an attitude of grateful praise.  In his desperate, sinful condition, he found joy in God’s mercy and grace.  “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.  Praise the Lord; praise the Lord, O my soul.”