2023.11.26 A Little Easter: It Is Well

A Little Easter: It Is Well

Psalm 34:1-8 • Psalm 34:17-22

Psalm 34:17–22 NLT

17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. 19 The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. 20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken! 21 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished. 22 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Two weeks ago, we sang my favorite hymn in worship: “And Can It Be”.

Today’s message is based on one of my favorite hymns. It’s up there, it’s just not my tip-top pick: “It is Well With my Soul”, written by Horatio Spafford.

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Horatio G. Spafford was a successful lawyer and businessman in Chicago with a lovely family - a wife, Anna, and five children. However, they were not strangers to tears and tragedy. Their young son (not pictured here) died of pneumonia in 1871. That same year, much of their business was lost in the great Chicago fire. Yet, God in His mercy and kindness allowed the business to flourish once more.

Two years later, on Nov. 21, 1873, (150 years ago) the French ocean liner, Ville du Havre [villee doo avar] was crossing the Atlantic from the U.S. to Europe with 313 passengers on board. Among the passengers were Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters. Horatio had planned to go with his family, but it became necessary for him to stay in Chicago to help solve an unexpected business problem. He told his wife he would take a later ship and join her and their children in Europe a few days later.

About four days into the crossing of the Atlantic, the Ville du Harve [villee doo avar] collided with a powerful, iron-hulled Scottish ship, the Loch Earn. All of those on board were immediately in grave danger. Anna hurriedly brought her four children to the deck. There she knelt with Annie, Margaret Lee, Bessie and Tanetta and prayed that God would spare them if that could be His will, or that He would make them willing to endure whatever awaited them. Within about 12 minutes of the collision, the Ville du Harve [villee doo avar] slipped beneath the dark waters of the Atlantic, carrying with it 226 of the 313 souls on board including all four Spafford children.

A sailor, rowing a small boat over the spot where the ship went down, spotted a woman floating on a piece of the wreckage. It was Anna, still alive. He pulled her into the rowboat and they were picked up by another large vessel. Nine days later, they landed in Cardiff, Wales. From there she wired her husband a message which began, “Saved alone, what shall I do?”

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Spafford later framed the telegram and placed it in his office. Today it’s held in the Library of Congress.

Horatio booked passage on the next available ship and left to join his grieving wife. With the ship about four days out, the captain called Spafford to his cabin. He told Horatio they were over the place where his children went down.

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According to Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, Horatio Spafford wrote “It Is Well With My Soul” while on this journey.

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.

A Little Easter: It Is Well

This may seem a strange message for Thanksgiving Sunday, but stick with me and it may just make some sense by the end.

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“Saved alone…What shall I do?”

As this year turns the corner to a swift close…what has 2023 held for you?

Maybe your marriage that you thought was rock solid has started to look more like gravel.

Maybe you lost a loved one … your standard … your rock is gone.

Maybe the plans for your life have unraveled and school wasn’t what you expected, or that new job didn’t iron out so well, or your kids have come back home because life has dealt them a blow.

Maybe as Christmas commercials envelope us … you’re asking the same question as Anna Spafford … What shall I do?

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld said that everyone has medical problems at some point … you just don’t ever want to be the guy that doctors invite other doctors to look at. “Oh, you gotta see this!” We can laugh about it now … because it’s not currently us.

But in that moment …

when the doctor delivers the news

when you’re served divorce papers

when your company leaves town

when your job no longer exists

when the State Trooper sits across the dining room table to announce your loved one is gone

... when it sinks in that this news isn’t likely to get better …

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WHERE IS GOD IN THIS?

“Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted” doesn’t bring as much comfort when you’re in the middle of the storm, does it? It sounds trite … it feels like a ‘kiss off’ answer to your troubles.

But let me tell you the Scriptures are littered with similar statements about God.

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Psalm 73:28 (NASB 2020)

28 But as for me, the nearness of God is good

If you’re walking with a friend, and you turn a corner into a neighborhood you probably shouldn’t be in…

Or if you’re in a wide open area and the sky turns dark and thunder starts rolling…

When you’re with a friend and things start looking dangerous … you instinctively move closer to each other. The movement may be obvious, or it may be imperceptible … but human beings move closer together when there is a threat or trouble brewing, and they do it without even thinking about it.

I want you to know … God does the same thing. You may not be able to perceive it, but Yahweh is moving closer to you as that area of your life crumbles beneath your feet … .and the nearness of God … is good!

You may be familiar with the poem Footprints in the Sand. There are three published versions of the poem, and it’s grown to be somewhat passe in many Christian circles … but the text fits here today.

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Mary Stevenson wrote these words in 1936:

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints,

so I said to the Lord, “You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child ...

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… is when I carried you.”

On Easter Sunday, Jesus Christ defeated the last of the earthly enemies we have. He defeated death by walking past the rolled away stone and exiting his own tomb!

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It is THAT Jesus Christ … the one who died and resurrected … not a dead God or a dead prophet … but a living Savior … it is THAT living savior who walks closer to you today as you lament the empty chair at the Thanksgiving Table and dread your first Christmas without whatever you’re missing this year.

It is that Jesus Christ who carries you in your greatest times of need.

I can’t give you a prescription to make everything better in your life. But I can give you a prescription to make it more bearable: In the Old Testament (Deut. 31:8), God said, “I’ll never leave you and I’ll never forsake you.” In the New Testament, Jesus says:

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Matthew 28:20 (NASB 2020)

“Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

As for me … the nearness of God is good! (Psalm 73:28)

A Little Easter: It Is Well

Though Satan should buffet Though trials should come Let this blest assurance control That Christ has regarded my helpless estate And has shed his own blood for my soul

Glory to God that He does not and WILL NOT EVER leave us to deal with this life’s heartbreaks alone. Never will he leave you. Never will he forsake you.

THANKS … BE TO GOD!

Let us pray.