It Is Well with My Soul--Hope AR
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
Today, we are going to look at the life of Horatio G. Spafford.
Spafford’s life can teach us a lot today.
He is the author of “It is Well with My Soul.”
SPAFFORD’S LIFE TRAGEDY.
Prior to 1871:
Spafford was a successful lawyer in Chicago.
He was also invested heavily in real estate.
Life was good for Spafford and his family.
He had a wife, son, four daughters, and a successful career and side business.
His family was taken care of for many years to come, or so he thought.
Have we ever been in this situation?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
Our lives are going well; we have it all planned out and have everything that we need, or so we think.
15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” 16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
You might think you have everything--a promising career, great car, the perfect house, a fantastic spouse, the best children in the world, and grandchildren to share all of earth’s treasures with.
But need to remember Matthew 6:19-21.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
After 1871 Spafford’s life is about to change forever:
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 Happened:
It took the life of Spafford’s firstborn son.
It destroyed his real estate investments.
It caused an economic downturn and, as a result, destroyed his law practice.
Everything that he had worked so hard for was gone.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Insurance might be able to help with the law practice and real estate investments, but his son was gone.
Spafford and family began to rebuild and get back on track.
So, in 1873 Spafford and his wife decide to go on vacation to Europe.
In a late turn of events, Spafford had to stay behind for business concerning the rebuilding of his real estate company.
He sent his wife, Anna, and four daughters ahead on the ocean liner SS Ville du Havre, thinking he would join them later.
The SS Ville du Havre collided with the British vessel Loch Earn and sank.
Two hundred and twenty-six people died, including all four of Spafford’s daughters.
His wife, Anna, unconscious, was saved by the crew of the Loch Earn and then transferred to the Trimountain, a cargo sailing vessel, along with the other 60 passengers and 26 crew members who survived.
As soon as Anna landed in Cardiff, Wales, she was able to send the message “Saved alone” to Spafford.
If we received this message today, after already having lost a son, a career, a side business and now four daughters, what would be our response?
27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
The suffering did not stop there.
Spafford and his wife would return to Chicago and have three more children.
First, a son named Horatio II, lived four years and died of starlet fever.
Then, they would conceive two more daughters who would survive to adulthood.
Out of eight children, six died—two sons and four daughters—and only two daughters lived.
If Spafford was going to make it through this life, he must realize one thing.
This life is ultimately not about family, a career, a business, or money, because all of these things can be lost, and then where would you be?
It is about God and being content with what God gives.
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Godliness with contentment is great gain.
6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
When tragedy strikes, there are only two ways to respond.
Allow your faith in God to be strengthened by the experience.
21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Or Allow your faith in God to be weakened by the experience.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
HORATIO’S G. SPAFFORD’S LIFE WAS FULL OF TRAGEDY.
Out of this tragedy, he wrote a very beautiful and encouraging song.
If the life you had yesterday was gone with no hope of ever getting it back, what would you be left with today?
Body:
“WHEN PEACE LIKE A RIVER, ATTENDETH MY WAY”
When everything is peaceful in your life, it is easy to serve God.
Job’s wife said to Job.
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
God asked Satan, “Have you considered My Servant, Job?”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
Notice it was God that asked this question.
Satan would tell God, “It is no wonder Job serves You because You build a hedge around Him, protect him, and make it easy.”
9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
This is the point where Spafford was in his life at the beginning of this song.
He was a lawyer in the thriving city of Chicago.
Before the Great Chicago fire, he had a wife, son, and four daughters.
He also had a growing real estate business on the side.
The hedge was built and peace attended his way.
How many of us are at this place in our lives?
What happens when God asks Satan, “Have you considered my servant?” and the hedge falls?
God would tell Satan, ‘Go ahead and test Job.’
12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
This leads me to the next few words in verse one.
“WHEN SORROWS LIKE SEA-BILLOWS ROLL”
Why would God allow Satan to test us in this life?
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
If our love for God is never tested and we simply receive everything, our love is only that of a spoiled child.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Even after losing everything, he told his wife, who had lost everything as well, “you speak as a foolish woman.”
Job could say what he did to his wife, because he had an understanding that his wife did not.
21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
This is the same conclusion that Spafford must have come to in order to say “It Is Well with My Soul.”
Job understood that we only have what we have in this life, because God has blessed us with it.
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.
26 for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.”
This leads to the next part of verse one.
“WHATEVER MY LOT, THOU HAST TAUGHT ME TO SAY, IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL”
Whatever our lot is in this life, it can change and if that is where our trust is, then our life can fall apart easily.
11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Job’s lot in life changed.
Spafford’s lot in life changed.
Our lot in life can change just as easily!
The devil is still at work in this world and God could allow him to knock down our hedge.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
God asked Satan in Job 1:7 “from where do you come?”
7 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
As God’s people, Satan is looking for every opportunity to devour us. When he tries, make sure “It Is Well with My Soul” is your attitude.
Conclusion:
If the life you had yesterday was gone with no hope of ever getting it back, what would you be left with today?
Job and Spafford answered this question.
What is your answer?
If God is not the answer, you will be left with nothing!
