My entire life I have been in love with music. It didn’t matter the genre … I loved the stories behind the music about the composers. Once I played the music … Well, the rest is history. It amazed me as a youngster and to this day how Beethoven could have composed such great masterpieces without the ability to hear. Simply amazing!
The classical composer, Johan Sebastian Bach, lost four children (daughter and three sons) and then his wife. When he remarried, he and his second wife, Anna-Magdalena, lost four more daughters and three sons. Eleven precious children were lost. The grief must have been unbearable. How did Bach handle these losses? How did he not stop breathing, how did his heart not stop? And most importantly, how could he continue to write music – some of the most beautiful music the world has ever heard. At the end of each piece of music, he would write “Soli Deo gloria” (Glory to God alone) and in the beginning, “Lord help.” In composing, Bach made the music a prayer.
In 1871, Horatio G. Spafford, an attorney with a fortune in real estate, lost it all when Chicago was consumed by fire. Shortly thereafter his 4-year-old son passed away from scarlet fever. Spafford drowned himself in work. In November, 1873, he decided to take his wife and daughters to Europe. Business delayed Spafford’s departure, however, so he decided to send his wife, Anna, and their four daughters, Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie, on ahead. As Spafford saw his family settled into a cabin aboard the ship, an unease filled him, so he moved them to a room closer to the bow. Then he said good-bye, promising to join them soon. During the early hours of November 22, 1873, the ship’s passengers were jolted from their bunks. The ship had collided with an iron sailing vessel, and water poured into the ship like Niagara Falls. Within two hours, the mighty ship vanished beneath the waters. Among the fatalities were Spafford’s four children. Mrs. Spafford was later found clinging to a piece of the wreckage. When the ship’s survivors landed in Cardiff, Wales, Mrs. Spafford cabled her husband: “Saved Alone.” En route to join his wife, Spafford was called to the deck by the captain who said, “I believe we are now passing over the place where the Ville du Havre went down.” Spafford, unable to sleep and in deep prayer, said to himself, “It is well; the will of God be done.” He later wrote his famous hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.”
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
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (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
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
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!
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
How do you deal with pain that passes all understanding? Worship is the best solace. Music itself can become a prayer.
Debby Efurd is co-founder of Cary John Efurd Ministries of Pittsburg, TX. She has been a contributor to Bound for Life and written numerous articles published in LifeNews, Christian Post and the Baptist Standard, and is the author of Go Tell It! Debby can be contacted at caryjohnefurdministries@gmail.com.
Tagged: American history, grief and loss, hymns and music, prayer
