“It Is Well With
My Soul” (Mark 4:35-41)
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, especially to you Bea, and to all of you
family and friends gathered here who loved Jim.
The portion of Holy Scripture I chose for
our time together today is from the Gospel according to St. Mark, the fourth
chapter. [READ TEXT]
That must have been quite a storm. At least four of the disciples on board the
boat were experienced Galilean fishermen.
They had ridden out many storms before this one. But this one really got to them. They were terrified. They thought for sure they were going to die. Waves were crashing over the bow. The boat was filling with water. This is it guys. Prepare to meet your maker. Next stop: Davy Jones’ locker.
The Galilean fishermen were
panicking. The Nazarene carpenter was
sound asleep. No storm was going to keep
him from getting some much needed shuteye.
He had found a comfortable niche in the stern where he continued to
trust in his heavenly Father’s care.
Moreover, this was no ordinary man.
This was Jesus, the Incarnate God, God in the flesh, true God and true
Man in the same person. But this had not
yet been made clear to the disciples yet.
They had seen his miracles. They
had heard his authoritative teaching. Jesus
authoritatively calms the wind and the sea with the words “Peace! Be
still!” And the disciples ask, “Who then
is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Peter’s great confession that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the Living God was still to come.
Jesus asked the disciples, “Why are you
so afraid? Have you still no
faith?” Looking at the storm, the
disciples were afraid. But with Jesus on
board, there was no need to be fearful.
Because of the gracious presence of Jesus the disciples could say in the words of the hymn, “It
is well with my soul.”
What about you? Is it well with your soul right now? If you’re honest, you might say, “No. Not a
bit. Everything is NOT well with my soul
right now. I miss Jim. There are other people whom I love who have
died. And there are other problems in my
life that are troubling me right now.
Life is pretty stormy for me. And
fear? Sure, I’m fearful. I’m no different than those disciples on that
boat. I’m afraid of dying. I don’t know what will happen to me when I
die.”
Jesus spoke words of calm to the storm
out there on the Sea of Galilee. Hear these
words of calm spoken to you before his death on the Cross of Calvary where he paid
the price for the sins of the world with his holy, innocent blood: “Let not
your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;
believe also in me. In my Father’s house
are many rooms. If it were not so, would
I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” At that point, Thomas asked, “Lord, we do not
know where you are going. How can we
know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the
way, and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.”
Through faith in Jesus you can be assured
that your sins are forgiven. Through faith
in Jesus, you can know that you have a place reserved for you in heaven. Through Jesus, you can be confident that all
who are baptized into Christ and who trust in his saving work at the cross will
rise to eternal life on the Last Day, even as Jesus conquered death and the
grave on Easter morning. It is only
through faith in Jesus that you can truly say, “It is well with my soul.” “He lives – 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, oh my soul.”
There’s a beautiful story behind that
hymn. Horatio G. Spafford was a
prominent Chicago lawyer and close friend of the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody. In 1870 his four year old son died of scarlet
fever. The next year, the Great Fire of
Chicago reduced the city to ashes along with most of Spafford’s sizable
investments. In November of 1873,
Spafford decided to take his entire family to England for a vacation, knowing
that his friend Moody was also scheduled to preach there. Urgent business concerns detained Spafford in
Chicago, but he decided to send his family ahead on board the steamship Ville du Havre as scheduled. Midway through the trans-Atlantic voyage, the
ship was struck by an iron sailing vessel and sank in 12 minutes.[i] 226 people died, including Spafford's four
daughters—Anna, eleven; Maggie, nine; Bessie, seven; and Tanetta, two. Mrs. Spafford was picked up unconscious,
floating on a plank of wood, and once safely delivered to Wales, sent her
husband the heartbreaking telegram: “Saved alone. What shall I do…”
Spafford immediately sailed for England
to join his grief-stricken wife. As his
ship passed the approximate location where his daughters had drowned, his deep
sorrow mingled with his unwavering faith in God's goodness caused him to
compose his well-known hymn.
The natural tendency of one confronted
with such senseless tragedy would most likely be to question, to doubt, to
blame, to accuse God. Yet this hymn
reveals a person who had been graced by God to mourn without bitterness, to
sorrow without anger, to trust without resentment, to rest in “the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:6). The peace of Jesus enabled Spafford to
believe, as God’s Word promises, that – even in one’s darkest hours – “for
those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).[ii]
[iii]
“It is well with my soul.” Before Jim died, he made it clear to me that
he wanted Spafford’s hymn sung at his funeral.
Jim had a vibrant, living faith in his Savior Jesus. He loved to be with his fellow believers in
church and Bible Class. He hungered for
the Lord’s Supper where he received the true body and blood of Jesus. He loved to talk about Jesus. He loved to engage others in conversation
about Jesus. He knew how much he, himself,
needed Jesus. There were some stormy
times in Jim’s life, that’s for sure. But
Jim knew that Jesus was on board for him.
Jesus was his anchor. The Lord Jesus
was the “everlasting rock” to which he clung when the waves were crashing all
around him. Although cancer took Jim’s
life, he knew that his eternal life was safe in Jesus. He knew that although his cancer ridden body
would not be healed on this side of the veil, it would be healed once and for
all at the resurrection when Jesus returns in glory. And so Jim was able to say, “It is well with
my soul.”
“Who then is this, that even the wind and
the sea obey him?” His name is
Jesus. The Crucified and Risen
Savior. Baptized in his name, trusting
in his finished work at the cross and the empty tomb, you too can say right
along with Jim … with Horatio Spafford … with all your fellow believers in
Christ, “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way; When sorrows, like sea
billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is
well with my soul.”
Amen.
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