When Peace Like a River (ELW 785)
1 When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
2 Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
Refrain
3 He lives, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought;
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Refrain
4 And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Refrain
Devotion
Horatio Spafford wrote this hymn 150 years ago after losing all four of his daughters in a shipwreck. He was aboard another ship on the way to London to join his wife who had survived the wreck. As the story goes, when the captain told him they were passing over the area where the ship had gone down, Spafford experienced a sense of peace in the midst of his grief and penned the words of the hymn in response. The words capture the sense of our scripture readings and devotions for this week. Even when sorrows roll over us, even when buffeted by Satan, even amidst trials, our faith in Christ gives us a rock-solid foundation. Jesus has taught us by his word of promise to say, “It is well with my soul.”
Prayer
Jesus Savior, you sent your peace to Horatio Spafford on that ship, and what a gift we have received in the song your Holy Spirit inspired. In your holy name, I pray for your peace in my heart and in your church, that we may be inspired to pass it on. Amen.