Who can describe the majesty and sovereignty of God as protector and judge of our soul?
David, a shepherd boy who became king of Israel, glorified God and His love for humanity in his psalms. Through the Holy Spirit, David’s psalms praise God in the valley of desolation and on the mountaintop of plenty.
Only the Holy Spirit can breathe and fill our heart with the truth of God’s love and righteousness. And we sing songs of praise, for God is the righteous judge, the sun of our days, the moon of our nights.
Psalms, hymns, and spirituals are born out of adoration, happiness, trials, triumphs for the praise and worship of God.
The 23rd Psalm can bring peace in times of sorrow. And a hymn or spiritual can do the same.
“Blessed Assurance” is one of my favorite hymns. The hymn uplifts my spirit. And sometimes when I’m troubled, I recite or hum the 23rd Psalm. Pretty soon, peace flourishes and worries flee.
God knows our sufferings and sorrows. He comforts and hides us in the pavilion of His love. Through psalms, hymns, and spirituals, expressions of the heart spills out into thanksgiving, praise, and worship.
David wrote such glorious psalms of adoration and lamentations unto God. They are testimonies of comfort, blessings, curses, and instructions for those who would wait and trust in God.
Don’t faint or give up, call on God. He is the answer to every problem. Singing hymns or reciting psalms takes us from the trenches of misgivings to the hilltops of God’s promises.
David was a man, but he revered God like an angel. David salivated praise and said, “His praise will continually be in my mouth.” When the world is bitter and cruel, “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him (Psalm 34:1 & 8, respectively KJV).”
Without an airplane, David soared the skies and touched the clouds. Without a telescope, he saw a world beyond the skies. This world abides in heaven. He saw God bow the heavens and ride on the wings of the wind to rescue him. With his sights from earth to glory, he pursued God’s heart. He sang to it. He ran after it. He leaped for it.
There are 150 great psalms written by David and others. But there are also many great songs: hymns and spirituals. These songs are also born out of adoration, grief, hardship, and praise. “It is Well With My Soul” is one such song.
Horatio Spafford, a Presbyterian elder and lawyer, penned the song. It lives today as Spafford’s testimony about God’s grace and mercy. It’s a song of release and victory in Jesus.
How did Spafford birth this beautiful song?
A man of faith, Spafford didn’t give up when his wife broke the news about a terrible tragedy. Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta, his four daughters, drowned after a British vessel rammed and sank their ship. Headed to Paris, Anna, Horatio’s wife, and children were passengers on the luxury steamer, the SS Ville du Havre. On November 11, 1873, the Atlantic Ocean became the watery grave for 226 passengers including Horatio’s daughters.
In a telegram, Anna wrote, “SAVED ALONE, WHAT SHALL I DO?”
A couple of years earlier, Anna and Horatio’s only son died at the age of four.
What do you do when there is nothing you can do? No doubt, he and his wife were grieved beyond words. Spafford did what every Christina should do, TRUST GOD.
After receiving the telegram from Anna, Spafford boarded a ship to join his wife. Several days out from reaching his destination, the ship’s captain informed him that they were sailing over the area where his beloved children drowned.
Did the grip of sorrow plague his soul? Did he look up and thank God that they were now in His bosom? We don’t know. But he didn’t throw in the towel. The present didn’t become ghosts of “if only I…. And the thought of tomorrow was bearable.
Maybe he remembered Psalm 42:5, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”
Again, we don’t know.
But what we do know, Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, said her father wrote “It Is Well With My Soul” while he was on this journey.
In the song, he asserts whatever his state or circumstance, peace or sorrow, his hope is in Christ. Christ took away his sins, and it is well with his soul when He descends.
Recite your favorite psalm. Sing your song. Pray to God, whatever your plight. And trust God for strength and to do what’s right.
Thanks to Antoinette for suggesting this story for a blog post.