The Words He Wrote Over the Water

In November of 1873, Horatio Spafford stood on the deck of a ship crossing the Atlantic and stared down at the cold, gray ocean. Somewhere beneath those waves, his four daughters had drowned just days earlier 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 boarded the next available ship to join her. When the captain notified him they were passing near the spot where his daughters had perished, Spafford went to his cabin and wrote words that have steadied grieving souls 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, "It is well because I understand." He wrote that it was well with his soul — the deepest part of him anchored to something the ocean could not swallow.

That is what biblical hope looks like. It is not the absence of grief. It is the presence of God in the middle of it. Romans 15:13 calls Him "the God of hope," not because He removes every sorrow, but because He fills us with peace and joy even while the sea billows roll.

Whatever you are sailing over today, the Almighty is beneath it.