Is Your Ship Sinking?

Many of us may have events in our lives that have occurred that have wounded us deeply; abuse, death, addictions, betrayal, dissapointment? Is there anything at all that hurt you in such a way that you just can't seem to get beyond it and you feel like maybe God has abandoned you? And you question... "Why did this have to happen to ME?" When bad things happen to us it's easy to believe Satan and think that God has abandoned us... and if God was good, then why would he do this to us.

The reality of life is that there will be trouble. Jesus never promised us a life without trouble. In fact, he made it clear that this life would bring trouble. He said it like this in John 16: 33 - "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble..." He didn't say 'maybe', He said, 'WILL HAVE TROUBLE'. So, if there is one thing you can count on in life is that at some point, you will have trouble.

Have I thoroughly depressed you yet? If so, I want to offer you some perspective... some hope.

Psalm 9: 9-10

9 The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.

God is your shelter in times of trouble. What a promise! Jesus promised that there would be trouble, but it was promised long before Jesus even said this that He would be your shelter in times of trouble and that He would NOT abandon those who search for Him! Claim that for your own life today.

Let me offer you more perspective: The Hymn that is called "It is well with my soul" was writ­ten af­ter two ma­jor trau­mas in Horatio Spaf­ford’s life, the writer of this hymn. The first trauma was the great Chi­ca­go Fire that happened in Oc­to­ber of 1871, which ru­ined him fi­nan­cial­ly because he was a weal­thy bus­i­ness­man. Soon af­ter this event, while cross­ing the At­lan­tic, all four of Spaf­ford’s daugh­ters died in a col­li­sion with an­o­ther ship. Their ship went down and they drowned in the ocean. Horatio’s wife, Anna, sur­vived and sent him a tel­e­gram that said, “Saved alone.” Sev­er­al weeks lat­er, as Horatio’s own ship went near the spot where his daugh­ters died, the Ho­ly Spir­it in­spired the words of his well known Hymn. They speak to the eter­nal hope that all be­liev­ers have, no mat­ter what pain and grief may happen to them on earth.

Below you can read every verse of the Hymn if you wish... of even just a few. It doesn't matter because in any of the words you will feel his peace and comfort that he received from The Lord while he was going through his trouble.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

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!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford believed all of this because He knew God and he knew that God is good all the time even in times of trouble. Do you think that if something like that happened to you, you could say, "It is well with my soul"? You can only do that if you really know who God is and not some lie fed to you by Satan that God doesn't care and isn't there for you. Satan lies to us all the time about who God is and how much He really does love you! Satan doesn't want you to know that, you might just turn to God!

Psalm 100: 5 says,

5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Did you catch that? "Through ALL generations". That also means that His goodness and love and faithfulness endures through OUR generation! We must search for Him now, because we now know that those who search for Him will never be abandoned by Him... even if it feels like He has. He's promised not to.

Jeremiah 29: 12-13

12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Please watch this video of the song. Powerful stuff... and you will get more of the story behind the words:


~Bry...