The Melody Written Over the Deep

In 1873, Horatio Spafford put his four daughters on a ship bound for England. He planned to join them after finishing some business in Chicago. Days later, a telegram arrived from his wife, Anna. Two words: "Saved alone." The ship had collided with another vessel in the Atlantic. All four girls were gone.

Spafford boarded the next available ship to join his wife. When the captain notified him they were passing over the spot where his daughters had drowned, Spafford went to his cabin and wrote the words that millions have sung since: "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 is not denial. That is courage. The courage to open your mouth and sing when everything inside you wants to scream. The courage to declare that the Almighty remains faithful even when the evidence around you looks like wreckage.

Scripture tells us that David encouraged himself in the Lord when his own men talked of stoning him. The psalms are full of worship that begins in darkness. Faith does not wait for the storm to pass before it sings.

Some of you are standing over your own deep water this morning. You do not need to understand it. You need only the courage to say what Spafford said — not because the circumstance is well, but because the God who holds you is.