What if you had received this telegram? The words of the telegram are simple yet startling: “Saved alone. What shall I do. Mrs Goodwin, children, Willie Culver lost. Go with Lorriaux until answer. Reply Porclain 64 Rue Aboukin, Paris”
These were the words that Horatio Spafford received when he lost his children in a tragic shipwreck as his family was sailing for Europe on vacation. He was supposed to be with them but business caused Spafford to have to return home before they boarded the ship. He had his family go ahead and told them he would come as soon as the business was finished. Before he could leave America this telegram arrived and there was nothing he could do.
Spafford was a man of deep faith in Christ. He immediately set out to sail to Europe to be with his grieving wife and to begin putting his broken life and dreams back together again. As he sailed to meet up with his wife the ships captain called him to the bridge of the ship and told him that they were at that time passing over the spot where his daughters had perished days earlier. He went back to his quarters, and taking a piece of letterhead from a hotel in Chicago which he had in his possession, he penned the words to the great Christian hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.” Below is a copy of the original of that hymn which was penned:
The words:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has 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 has 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 the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
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.
A great hymn . . . filled with truth and borne out of tragedy. May God make Himself clear to us in times of trouble through which we pass.
Sola Scriptura ~~ Solo Christo ~~ Sola Gratia ~~ Sola Fide ~~ Soli Deo Gloria
Filed under: Adversity, Dead yet they speak, The Gospel, Theology |
Here I Stand . . . I Can Do Nothing Else 
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