When Peace Like A River - November 16, 2003

When Peace Like A River – November 16, 2003

In 1871 a great fire raged through Chicago, destroying businesses and row houses and leaving hundreds of people jobless and homeless. Horatio Spafford, a successful lawyer and businessman who specialized in real estate, lost everything he owned in the fire. Remembering the pain of losing a son some years earlier, and being grateful to still have their four daughters, Horatio and his wife, Anna, went to work helping rebuild the lives of those impoverished by the disaster. Horatio believed not only in God but in doing God’s work. Slowly his life came back together as he helped others literally rise above the ashes.

Exhausted from the tragedy, Horatio booked passage on a steamship to Britain for him and his family—a well-deserved vacation. But at the last minute, a lingering business deal kept Horatio in Chicago. He sent his family on, promising to join them later. Halfway to Europe, the passenger steamer was hit by another ship and quickly sunk. Of the four little girls, none survived. Anna, however, lived and was rescued hours later as she floated on a piece of wreckage. Anna would later recount the feeling of losing hold of her youngest daughter’s nightgown as the waves crashed into her cabin.

After hearing of the catastrophe, Horatio booked passage on the earliest ship, gripping the telegram he received from Anna, which read simply, “Saved alone.” For hours he walked the deck in sorrow, anxious to rejoin his wife and overcome with the grief of having lost all his children. At one point the captain of the ship called him to the bridge and told him they were passing the spot where the ship bearing his family had gone down. As Horatio stared out at the rolling waves, he was sustained by a feeling of peace at the thought of seeing his daughters in heaven. The words of Isaiah came to him:

“For thus saith the Lord,…I will extend peace to her like a river.”¹ These meditations guided his hand as he penned the words to one of our most enduring hymns: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, / When sorrows like sea billows roll, / Whate’er my lot, thou hast taught me to say: / It is well, it is well with my soul.”²

Program #3874

^1.^{Isaiah 66:12.}

^2.^{“When Peace like a River,” arr. Dale Grotenhuis (Neil A. Kjos Music Company, 1985).}