It is well

I love that hymn! It is the most amazing hymn with the most profound meaning in it. It is well with my soul...no matter what happens, no matter how big of a storm may come, no matter whether I'm broke or I'm broken...it is well with my soul. Come what may...it is well with my soul. You may think, 'I wish it was so easy to say that', but do you know who wrote that song and when did that writer write that song?

It was written by Horatio Gates Spafford. He was a well-known Chicago lawyer in the 1860s. In 1870, his one and only son died of scarlet fever at the age of four. In 1871, in the "Great Chicago Fire", he lost everything that he had invested in the real estate.

After two years later, Spafford and his family decided to go on a vacation. They were going to go to England to meet his close friend, D.L. Moody on his evangelistic crusades. Horatio and Anna, his wife, and their children went to New York from where they were to go on the 'Ville de Havre' across the Atlantic. However, a last minute business development kept Horatio from joining them. Since he didn't wanted to ruin the trip, he urged his wife and four daughters to go ahead and he'll meet up with them later.

However, the ship never reached the destination. It had collided with an English ship, the Loch Earn, and sank within minutes. Anna, along with 47 other passengers, survived; however, 226 lives including Anna's four daughters, Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie, were killed.

Horatio received a horrible telegram from his wife stating, "saved alone". Horatio boarded the next ship to be with his grieving wife. During that voyage, the captain of the ship called him to the bridge and told him that was the location where the Ville de Havre was wrecked. That is when Horatio penned the lyrics of this great hymn called "It is well with my soul".

It is often difficult, but it is vital, to trust in God. He knows our past, present, and future. He has seen the whole puzzle, whereas, we are only seeing one piece at a time. Often we do not understand why certain things happen the way they do, but He knows best. Trust in the Lord. The wisest man ever lived said, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." He will never fail you nor disappoint you. Humans will let you down, but God never will. Your family and friends might let you down, but Jesus will be at your side at all times.

Wait on the Lord

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31) (NKJV).

It is very important to wait on the Lord. We are living in a fast-paced world. Everything is fast this or instant that. It’s either fast-food or instant coffee. We don’t have the patience to wait for anything. If anyone or anything is 5-minutes late, heaven forbid, we get irritated or mad. 

The sad part is that we expect God to work like that too. We expect Him to show up the moment we call on Him and do a miracle right that instant. If He doesn't, we get mad at Him. We say, ‘He’s late’ or ‘He can’t do a miracle’; or something to that effect. We start blaming Him when things don’t go the way we want to. Well, the fact of the matter is, He might not show up when we want Him to, but He’s never late. He’s right on time. He shows up when He knows it’s the best time to show up. I always say, ‘He knows me better than I know myself.’ 

We must always remember His delay is not His denial. That means, just because He didn’t show up when you want Him to, that doesn’t means He’s forgotten about you. As the prophet Isaiah said, if we wait on the Lord, we will renew our strength. The Psalmist also says in Psalm 27:14, “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!” 

So, patience is the key, and let’s start by putting that into practice in our life.

Greater than these

John 14:12 – Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (NIV).

If Jesus said we will do the things that He did and even greater than that, why aren’t we? In the 10 years that I’ve been in the faith, I have not seen a blind person receive sight, yet; deaf person hearing, yet; mute person talking, yet; lame person walking, yet. I haven’t even seen a dead person come back to life, yet. Why is that? Is it because we don’t believe in the Word? Is it because we don’t believe in God? Or is it lack of faith? Whatever it is, it needs to change.

We need to stand firm in the Word. If we don’t believe God, then whom can we believe. God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind (Numbers 23:19, NIV). Rather than blaming God for miracles not taking place, perhaps we should check our faith tank. Is it running on empty? Does the faith fuel need to be pumped in? Is it time to visit the faith station?

The first couple of words in the King James Version of that verse say, ‘Verily, verily’. Every time in the Bible, Jesus said ‘verily, verily’, He meant ‘truthfully’. Not that He would lie or ever needed to lie, but He meant that it is ‘for real’. It’s like when people say, ‘if you didn’t hear anything I’ve said all this time, listen to this.’ It was given very much importance. So, Jesus is saying, we will do even greater things than these (the ones He did), because He’s gone to the Father. He’s not saying, we may do or we can do if we want to, He’s saying we will do, which means the power is already in us to be able to do everything He did and more, if, and only if, we believe.

That’s the key word, believe. We have to believe in Jesus. We must believe He is the Son of God. We must believe He is the Savior of this world. We must believe that He came into this world, lived, suffered, died, buried and on the third day, rose again, and He is coming back again. We must also believe in the things He did. If I don’t believe Jesus raised people from dead, then how can I bring people back from death?