A Hymn Written Over the Waves

In November of 1873, Horatio Spafford stood at the railing of a ship crossing the Atlantic, staring down at cold, gray water. Somewhere beneath those waves, his four daughters had perished just days earlier when their vessel, the Ville du Havre, collided with another ship and sank in twelve minutes. His wife Anna had survived, sending him a telegram that read simply: "Saved alone."

Spafford was no stranger to loss. Two years before, the Great Chicago Fire had wiped out his real estate investments. Then his young son died of scarlet fever. Now this. By any human measure, the man had every reason to surrender to despair.

Yet as his ship passed near the place where his children had drowned, Spafford picked up a pen and wrote words that Christians have been singing for over a century: "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."

That hymn was not written from comfort. It was written from the middle of the ocean, over a grave. And that is precisely what makes it trustworthy.

Hope is not the absence of suffering. Hope is the voice that rises when suffering has done its worst. The Almighty does not always calm the sea — but He meets us on the water, and gives us a song even there.