I want to share a remarkable story that captures the perfect peace that is waiting for us when our hearts trust and our minds are fixed on our Creator (Isaiah 26:3). It is the story of Horatio Spafford.

Spafford was a lawyer who owned a legal practice in Chicago in the late nineteenth century. He was an elder in his church and a

respectedman in his community. He had a wife and four daughters 11 years old and younger. In the spring of 1871, Spafford invested heavily in real estate in northern Chicago. By October of that same year, he saw his investment reduced to ashes as the city of Chicago was leveled during the Great Chicago Fire.

You can imagine the heartbreak and horror that he must have felt as a Christian, seeing his community destroyed by fire, knowing that hundreds had lost their lives and that thousands were now homeless. But the Spaffords themselves were no strangers to tragedy—just a year earlier, they had suddenly lost their 4 year old son to scarlet fever. No doubt, they empathized greatly with the loss and misfortune of the people in their community and city. The fire was a deep and traumatic tragedy for the city, a blow to Spafford’s family’s financial security, and a test of his faith.

Two years later, tragedy struck yet again. His wife and four young daughters were crossing the Atlantic for a planned trip to Europe when, after colliding with another vessel in the middle of the sea, their ship sank in under 12 minutes. Spafford, who had stayed behind attending to some business, planned to meet up with them soon after. Two-hundred twenty-six souls were lost that day, including all four of Spafford’s daughters. Somehow spared in the tragedy, his wife immediately sent Horatio a message including the words, “Survived alone.”

Spafford’s life was completely and utterly upended. In just over two years, he lost most of his money and all of his children. Rarely has anyone experienced more personal tragedy than this. And yet, despite this great loss, Horatio Spafford endured. His reputation as a man of faith was certainly put to the test, yet he persevered. You see, while Spafford could not make sense of why God would allow such things to happen to him and his family, he recognized that God was still firmly in control, and that, despite the loss of his wealth and family, the greater promises of God’s providence and eventual place in Heaven never change.

Spafford rushed to join his grieving wife, making the unimaginably difficult voyage on the same route as the one that his family just took. His grief must have been unbearable. However, in a moment of inspiration, when Spafford was near the very location where his daughters drowned, he captured his thoughts in the form of a hymn he called, “It is Well.” The first two verses of the hymn capture his personal grief with words like, “when sorrows like sea billows roll.” We can imagine these words coming painfully to Spafford as he stared out at the very waves that claimed the lives of his children. And while the first two verses capture the pain of his loss, they aren’t the main focus of the song. Instead, the hymn pushes through the pain and looks upward for inspiration and comfort.

In the third verse, Spafford marveled at the redemptive work of Christ—that all of his sins could be forgiven because of the price paid by his Savior. Then Spafford concludes with verse four, which longingly contemplates the promise of heaven. And the whole song is held together by the chorus that shows us, that despite the pain and tragedy of this life, despite all of the hardships and the suffering, despite great loss, Spafford sings that he has peace because he has a Savior who went to the cross and paid the price for him. It was “well with his soul.” Spafford knew that these promises covered his daughters, and these promises cover all of us as well.

Saints, we will all face challenges in our lives that threaten the peace of God’s promise. We will all have our ups and our downs, our highs and our lows, or peaks and our valleys. We will no doubt experience some pain and suffering this side of eternity, just like Horatio Spafford did. Maybe some of you already have. God doesn’t promise us a life that is free from suffering or free from turmoil or chaos. What he does promise is that He will help us push through the pain and sorrows of this life and that our Salvation is secure. Trust in Him, set your mind on Him through prayer, and believe in Him. Lean heavily on the Eternal Rock that is your God—just like Horatio Spafford did.

The hymn that Spafford wrote is a lamp that lit his journey through the Biblical promises of God’s mercy and grace. It’s a path illuminated by the assurances found in Christ that can be followed by anyone that places their trust in Him. God is here for you—inviting you to draw near. If you are not a believer, I would urge you to take him up on that invitation, today. Open your heart and place your faith in Him today and he will remove the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh that will swaddle you in the promise of His perfect peace. If you are a believer, endeavor to keep your mind fixed on God, every hour, every minute and every second, of every day, so that what flows from you is from God and of God. Do this and you will know His perfect peace. It is the same peace that He gave Horatio Spafford and the same peace he will give to you, so that you, like him, will be able to sing, “It is well, with my soul.”