2014 Lenten Devotional

March 17, 2014

By Joel Wurl

“It is well with my soul”
What a wonderful proclamation!  To be able to say “my soul is satisfied” seems to suggest achieving a life without want. A state of uncontainable gratitude for all the happy things that surround me.  A burst of joy for everything good I’ve been given.  Right?  Well…..

The words “It is Well with my Soul” are the title and refrain of one of my favorite hymns, written by Horatio Spafford over 140 years ago.  Spafford was a prominent lawyer and real estate investor in Chicago in the years after the Civil War.  The great fire in Chicago in 1871 brought the city, and his financial foundation, to near ruin.  To escape the calamity, Spafford and his wife, Anna, decided to visit Europe with their four daughters.  Horatio’s work required that he stay behind for a short time, so Anna and the children set sail for England in 1873.  Disaster struck.  Their ship collided with another.

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.

Horatio headed off on another ship as soon as possible to be with Anna.  She had sent him a telegram simply saying “Saved alone.”  All four daughters…. Gone.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

On that ship to reunite with his wife; alone with his thoughts.  Is there any way it could possibly get there fast enough?  Traveling the very same route his wife and daughters, aged 5 to 11, had gone shortly before……

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pain shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

He penned the words to this enduring hymn on that voyage.  He actually felt the feelings that these words embody.  In the midst of what must have been the most abject emotional pain a person could experience, he found inside him an affirmation such as this:

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

This is, to me, not just a testament to the remarkable strength that trust in God can provide.  It’s a reminder that spiritual wellness often has sorrowful company in the space of our being.  That’s OK; that’s how it is supposed to be.  Despair and contentment are more natural allies than we realize.  It’s all part of what makes us whole.  God, too, has suffered, never more than on the first Good Friday.  This Lenten season as always, it’s good to be human, made in God’s image.

And Lord haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.