Finding Peace in the Middle of Tragedy
What would you do if you lost everything — your business, your wealth, and then your children — all within a short time? Most of us would probably fall apart. But two men, separated by thousands of years of history, faced exactly that kind of devastating loss and responded in a way that can only be described as supernatural.
A Father's Worst Nightmare
Imagine a beautiful, crisp autumn day in New York, back in the 1870s. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and a cool breeze was signaling winter just around the corner. A man stands at the harbor watching his wife and four daughters board a ship bound for France. He kisses them goodbye, makes sure they have the best accommodations on the ship, and watches the S.S. Ville du Havre set sail.
That man was Horatio Spafford, a highly successful attorney and businessman in Chicago. His professional success was exceeded only by his commitment to Christian missions. He actively gave his time and money to foreign missions, revivals, food kitchens, and street ministries. He was instrumental in the creation of the first Young Men's Christian Association, the YMCA. He financially supported the revival efforts of two now-famous evangelists, D. L. Moody and Ira Sankey.
Tragedy had already visited the Spafford family. The great Chicago fires of 1871 had destroyed all of Horatio's business holdings literally overnight. And now, in the middle of the vast Atlantic Ocean, the S.S. Ville du Havre collided with an oncoming British ship. In just twelve minutes, the entire ship sank, carrying 226 passengers down to a watery grave, including eleven-year-old Annie, nine-year-old Maggie, seven-year-old Bessie, and two-year-old Tanetta. All four of Horatio's beloved little girls were gone.
His wife Anna survived. Her telegram back to Horatio contained just two words: "Saved alone."
An Ancient Story That Sounds Strangely Familiar
Horatio Spafford's story is remarkably similar to an Old Testament character named Job. In Job 1:1-3, the Bible introduces him this way: "There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless, a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys... He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area."
Much like Spafford, Job was a successful businessman, a father of a large family, and a man of great faith and reverence for God.
The Challenge Behind the Suffering
In Job's story, a dramatic scene unfolds in the heavenly court. Satan, whose name in Hebrew, "ha-satan," simply means "the adversary" or "the accuser," issues a bold challenge to God in Job 1:6-11: "Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God... But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!"
God accepts the challenge and allows the Accuser to test Job. In rapid succession, Job loses his livestock, his servants, his wealth, some of it destroyed by fire (which sounds familiar), and then, most devastatingly, all of his children die in a tragic accident when the house they were gathered in collapsed on them.
An Uncommon, Even Supernatural Response
Here is where the story takes a turn that defies human nature. In Job 1:20-22, we read: "Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, 'I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!' In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God."
Did you catch that? After grief, his first instinct was to worship God. The man had just lost everything and his response was worship. How is that even possible?
Job's wife had a very different reaction. In Job 2:9, she says simply: "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die." We only hear Job's wife speak one line of dialog in the whole story, but she has certainly made the most of her one opportunity to be heard.
Job's response stays consistent with his faith: "Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" (Job 2:10). And later, in one of the most remarkable statements in all of scripture, Job declares in Job 13:13-15: "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him."
It Is Well
Now back to Horatio Spafford. Racing across the Atlantic to meet his grieving wife, at the midpoint of the journey the ship's captain summoned him. "Mr. Spafford, to the best of our calculations, we are near the spot where the tragedy occurred, and your daughters now lay to rest."
Surprisingly, Horatio Spafford dug down deep into his well of faith and maybe for the first time since the accident, he felt not grief, but an amazing sense of peace. He returned to his cabin, took pen in hand, and wrote these now-famous words:
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.
Both Job and Horatio Spafford placed their hope not in business ventures or wealth or earthly enterprises. Their faith, their trust, their entire lives were placed in the hands of God, in both good times and in bad.
Putting It Into Practice
When tragedies and difficult situations arise in our lives, whether they are radical and life-changing like in the case of Job or Horatio Spafford, or whether they are simply the everyday calamities we experience living life in a fallen, broken world, we are presented with two possible responses.
We can choose, like Job's wife, to curse God, to blame God, and completely turn our backs on God. That is probably the natural, even understandable route. But the other option is not natural to us at all. In fact, it is supernatural.
The Apostle Paul describes it this way in Romans 5:3-4: "We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."
In the midst of tragedy or suffering, we reach down deep in our souls and place our hope and trust in the hands of God. We give over everything we are, everything we have, even our families, into the care of God. We remember that God is our faithful and trusted provider and everything we have comes from God anyway.
Whatever challenge or difficulty you are facing right now, release it into God's hands. Find the strength to summon the faith to say along with Job and sing along with Horatio Spafford: "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him" and "Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul."
Reflection
Take a few quiet moments with these questions. Be honest. God can handle it.
When difficulty or tragedy has come into your life, what has been your first instinct, to pull away from God, or to draw closer to God? What does your gut reaction reveal about where your trust is truly anchored?
Job's wife said, "Curse God and die." Have you ever felt that way, even if you never said it out loud? What does it look like to bring that raw, honest pain before God rather than turning away from God entirely?
Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." Horatio Spafford wrote, "Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well with my soul." What would it take for you to say those words and mean them? What is standing in the way right now?
What are you currently holding onto so tightly, a relationship, a plan, a sense of security, that you have not fully released into God's hands? What would it look like to trust God with that thing today?
Application
Today, choose one concrete act of surrender. Here's how:
Name it. Write down the specific burden, fear, grief, or struggle you are carrying right now. Don't be vague. Be specific before God.
Release it. In prayer; physically open your hands as a posture of surrender and speak it out loud to God. Tell God you are choosing, even if it doesn't feel true yet, to place it in his hands.
Declare it. Find a quiet moment today to listen to or sing "It Is Well With My Soul." Let Spafford's words become your prayer. Remember: he wrote those words over the ocean where his daughters perished. If he could sing it there, you can sing it here.
Anchor it. Write Romans 5:3-4 somewhere you will see it this week: your mirror, your phone wallpaper, a sticky note on your dashboard. Let it remind you that your suffering is not wasted. God is building something in you.
Prayer
Loving God, I come to you today not because everything is okay, but because you are God and you are good even when my circumstances tell a different story. Like Job, I confess that my first instinct is not always worship. Sometimes it is anger. Sometimes it is silence. Today I choose, by faith and not by feeling, to do what Job did. I choose to fall to the ground and worship you. I choose to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." I release (name your burden here) into your hands right now. It is too heavy for me to carry. I was never meant to carry it alone. You are my faithful provider. You are my refuge. You are the God who sees me. In the name of Jesus, who carried the cross so that I would never carry my burdens alone, Amen
