When sorrows like sea billows roar. What an accurate description of the trials we face at times in life. And yet, to the author of this great hymn, Horatio Spafford, this phrase was quite literal. On November 22, 1873 his four daughters, passengers on the Ville du Havre, were drowned at sea when the ship collided with another. His wife alone survived the ordeal and Horatio immediately set sail to join her in Wales. The night his ship passed the location where his children had perished, he found it very difficult to sleep. He finally said to himself, “It is well; the will of God be done.” He later used these words to write one of the crown jewels of any hymnal, It is Well with my Soul.
It’s hard to comprehend a loss of that magnitude, and yet I write of Horatio not to minimize what you or I may experience, but to demonstrate the power of our God. For only through the power of the Holy Spirit can we rejoice in the face of such unimaginable grief. Throughout Scripture, God has given us wonderful examples of this.
Paul and Silas were certainly no strangers to suffering. Acts 16:16-24 recounts how these men were beaten and imprisoned for doing the work of the Lord. But rather than moan and grumble as I would likely have done, they prayed and sang hymns in the midnight hour while shackled in their cell. Oh how the grace of God was with them!
And for Job. How did he fall to his knees and worship after the loss of his property, possessions, and most of all, his children? How could he utter the wise and truth-filled words, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Only through the Spirit can worship be a response to such unimaginable physical, mental, and emotional pain.
Truly, it is the power of the Spirit that strengthens our hearts and brings to our remembrance the words of God. As we see in Horatio’s second and third verses, the Spirit directed him most of all to the gospel. Let your heart absorb the beauty and hope of these lyrics:
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control:
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and has 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 the cross, and I bear it no more;
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Though grief is the right and appropriate response to sorrow and great loss, these glorious lyrics remind us that gospel centered thoughts are what should control our minds. As The Lord through Paul instructs us in Philippians 4:8, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about these things.” Certainly, the gospel is the best object of that verse and the only thought able to give true peace and comfort.
When sorrows like sea billows roar- and they will roar- we can be assured the Spirit will direct our minds to the truth of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. To the glory of God, come what may, that truth remains unchanged. Because he has shed his own blood for our souls, we can say, “It is well.”
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