When we’re in that”Valley” of Psalm 23, I’ve ALWAYS found this hymn to be of great comfort to my heart, soul and mind.
“It is Well with My Soul”
1) When peace like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
Chorus:
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul!
2) 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!
Chorus:
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
3) 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!
Chorus:
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul!
BACKGROUND:
This hymn was written after traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which ruined him financially. (Spafford had been a successful lawyer and had invested significantly in property in the area of Chicago that was extensively damaged by the great fire.) His business interests were further hit by the economic downturn of 1873, at which time Spafford had planned to travel to England with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, to help with Dwight L. Moody’s upcoming evangelistic campaigns. In a late change of plan, Spafford sent his wife, Anna, and their four daughters, Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta, ahead while Spafford was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, the Loch Earn, killing 226 people, including Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta. Anna survived and sent Spafford the now famous telegram, “Saved alone …” Shortly afterwards, as he traveled to England to meet his grieving wife, Spafford was inspired to write these words as his ship passed the spot near where his four daughters had died. Bliss called his tune Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.
I found the following article about Horatio and Anna quite interesting.
Anna Spafford (March 16, 1842 – April 17, 1923), born Anne Tobine Larsen Øglende in Stavanger, Norway, was a Norwegian-American woman who settled in Jerusalem, where she and her husband Horatio Spafford were central in establishing the American Colony there in 1881.
The American religious foundation and philanthropy that informally became known as the American Colony of Jerusalem, was established in the Ottoman Empire in 1881 as a “Christian utopian society” led by American religious leader Horatio Gates Spafford and his Norwegian wife Anne Tobine Larsen Øglende. Largely concerned with providing social services, education, meeting spaces, and medical care, it became known for producing and publishing an important documentation, photographic series of the area of Jerusalem starting in the early 1900s. The community lasted until the 1950s.
Leave a Reply