Peace like a river
I want to dedicate this page to not
only my sister Linda, but anyone who has experienced the grief
of losing someone very special. At times like this, we
search for words of comfort to help those who are grieving. But I am
at a loss for words of comfort. Abraham Lincoln wrote in a
letter to a mother who had lost five sons in the war
"I feel how weak and fruitless must be any
words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of
a loss so overwhelming."
Yet, I
tried. I wanted very badly to find a way to say something very
special for Daniel's birthday which is coming up in a few
days. This morning at 4:00
o'clock I awoke with a revelation. Could it be, there are
times when it is the other way around? Does the Lord use those
who are grieving to comfort us? In a few days, it will be
a year since my wife and I took that 14 hour drive up to be with my
sister and hopefully see Daniel one last time. We prayed all
the way up there for a miracle. Just before we got there,
Linda called us and told us that Daniel had died. We cried the
rest of the way there, sometimes uncontrollably. We prayed and
asked the Lord, how are we going to help anybody while we are like
this? As we pulled up to the house, It was not as we had
expected. She was not the wreck we had imagined.
Moreover, for the entire week we were there and from that day to
this, anybody who sees her will testify that from her flows "peace
like a river". Credit for that phrase goes to Horatio Gates Spafford. He
was lawyer and business man in Chicago and a very close
friend of D.L. Moody. He had made his fortune in real estate.
In 1871, Spafford suffered two great losses. While he was
grieving over the loss of his little boy to scarlet fever,
he lost just about his entire fortune in the Chicago Fire. The
Lord gave Horatio peace and strength and he in turn, used
that gift for the next two years to help both the grieving and the
homeless. In 1873, he decided to take a
vacation with his family to England where he would join D.L. Moody on
his evangelistic crusade. At the last minute, he was delayed from
going because of business but told his wife and four daughters to
go on ahead and he would meet them there. A few days after
they left, the ship they were on collided with another ship and went
down in less than twenty minutes(Some reports say two hours).
Mrs. Spafford somehow survived the shipwreck
and was able to cling to floating debris
until she was rescued. Her four daughters did not make it. Horatio
heard about the accident but didn't know if there
were survivors or how many. When his wife got to England,
she sent the now famous telegram containing just two words, "saved
alone." Still grieving from the loss of his son, he now
also grieved for his daughters. He went to England to be
with his wife. On the way there, he was told that they
were over the place where his daughters' ship went down.
He went down to his cabin and was not heard from for two days
so someone was sent to check on him. They knock on the door and
ask if he's ok. He replies "It is well. God's will be
done." At a moment when he must have been feeling
overwhelming grief, Jesus kept his promise and gave him
peace. I also believe the Holy Spirit moved him to pen these
words:
When peace, like a river, attendeth
my way, Refrain It is well, (echo) Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, Refrain My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought! Refrain For me, be it Christ, be it Christ
hence to live: Refrain But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy
coming we wait, Refrain And Lord, haste the day when my faith
shall be sight, Refrain
Below is a video about Horatio Spafford and includes the song "It Is Well With My Soul" |