“It Is Well With My Soul.” Is it?

When was the last time you could honestly say, “It is well with my soul?”  

Those words were penned by Horatio Spafford, a successful lawyer during the 19th century.  When he was 45 years old, he sent his wife and four daughters ahead by steamship to tour England.  Having been delayed by business he would arrive a few weeks later and meet up with his family and they would all participate in a revival led by Dwight L. Moody, a friend of Spafford’s.

Tragically the ship carrying his family was struck by an iron sailing vessel, and the girls, ranging in age form 11 to two years were all drowned.  His wife, Anna, wired her husband with these simple words: “Saved alone.”  Spafford wrote these verses in the depth of his tragedy.  I urge you to read these words quietly and reflectively:

“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.

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.

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!

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 lifeThou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

And Lord haste the day, when the 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.

Don’t we all wish we could confidently, joyfully say just that:  “It is well with my soul?”  I believe that in my mind. I can say, my soul is okay because Jesus has saved it.  But I don’t always feel it in my heart.  I am plagued by doubts, conflicts, and weariness.

So to correct that problem, I sought a portion of Scripture in which the characters were genuinely able to say “It is well with my soul”.  I found only one in the whole of the Bible where ALL WAS WELL.  It’s in Genesis, chapters 1 and 2.  Indeed, this describes Paradise.

So, in future blogs, I will be sharing what the conditions were in the Garden of Eden that created this reality — Soul Wellness, something we all want.   What did the Sovereign God surround Adam and Eve with in Paradise that allowed them to say, and believe it, and feel it “It is well with my soul?”