The Hymn Written Over the Deep

In November 1873, Horatio Spafford stood at the railing of a ship crossing the Atlantic, staring into cold, gray water. Somewhere beneath those waves, his four daughters — Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta — had perished when the SS Ville du Havre collided with another vessel and sank in twelve minutes. His wife Anna survived and sent him a two-word telegram from Wales: "Saved alone."

Spafford had already lost nearly everything in the Great Chicago Fire two years earlier. Now this. When the captain notified him they were passing over the approximate spot where the ship had gone down, Spafford returned to his cabin and wrote words that have steadied grieving hearts 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."

Notice he did not write, "It is well with my circumstances." He did not write, "I understand why this happened." Faith never promises us explanations. What faith offers is something deeper — a settled confidence that the God who holds the ocean floor also holds our sorrow.

Whatever you are facing this morning, the Almighty does not ask you to feel fine. He asks you to trust Him in the deep. And sometimes the most defiant act of faith is to whisper through tears, "It is well with my soul."