GRIEVING AND SORROWING

I Was Just Thinking About - - -

In 1873, Horatio Gates Spafford received news that the ship his wife and four daughters were travelling on had collided with another vessel and sunk. His wife was one of twenty-eight survivors. Her telegram to her husband stated, “Saved Alone.” Horatio Spafford had already experienced the death of a son as well as the loss of many of his investments in the Chicago fire of 1871. As he sailed to be united with his wife, he asked the Captain to inform him when they approached the place where his four daughters had drowned. It was at this time he penned the words to the well-known and often sung Hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. Several phrases of his poem give cause for in-depth reflection. One of them is, “When sorrows like sea-billows roll.” The words that stirred his soul and ours are, “Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”

It seems as though our associations include individuals who range from very young to the more elderly that are coping with various life-threatening maladies not the least of which is Cancer. As we pray for these various ones, we realize that cancer is one of the most challenging diseases for which there is no present or definitive cure. We pray for a six-year old who has spent two-thirds of his young life being treated for Cancer. We prayed for a son-in-law who suddenly was diagnosed with cancer and who died shortly after his thirtieth birthday. One of our long-standing contemporary friends with whom there had been a kindred-spirit for more than sixty-years was diagnosed with Cancer a short time ago. Word was received that she died yesterday morning.

There is something very unique in the words of Paul recorded in II Corinthians 1:3-7, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God…our comfort abounds through Christ…For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.” In I Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul’s concern was threefold. First, “That you will not grieve like the rest who are without hope.” Second, that there is an understanding regarding those who have preceded us in death. When the Lord returns, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.” Third, he adds words that should endure throughout all generations,  “Encourage one another with these words.”

Horatio Spafford wrote two stanzas that are not contained in most contemporary Hymnals. They are additional words of his hope and peace,

   For me be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live;

   If Jordan above me should roll,

   No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,

   Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

   But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for thy coming we wait,

   The sky, not the grave, is our goal;

   Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!

   Blessed hope! blessed rest of my soul!

Death is a reality but so also is the peace, comfort and encouragement of the Lord! He knows your sorrows. He knows your needs. In 1914, Oswald J. Smith wrote the Hymn, Deeper and Deeper. For those who grieve and are sorrowful, one stanza contains these comforting and encouraging words,

   Joy in the place of sorrow,
   Peace in the midst of pain,
   Jesus will give, Jesus will give;
   He will uphold and sustain.

Prayerfully – consider these things with me!