(As always, the recorded version is the better version. Hope you listen. :)
CS Lewis put it this way.
Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. ~ C.S. Lewis
And he’s right.
A broken world often uses something like the coronavirus to lodge moral complaints against God, but theologically, this stuff is supposed to get our attention. God’s not the author of evil, but he’s sovereign over it and can use it for his glory.
My question for us today…since we’re part of how God loves on people, are we going to love like it is well?
Perhaps one of the most appropriate bits of verse and tune for these odd times is wrapped up in another story of pain, the story of the old hymn It Is Well.
You probably know the backstory, but it’s worth reflecting on again.
There’s the successful Christian business guy, a lawyer in Chicago named Horatio Spafford. And boy, did he experience some pain.
He had a lot of Chicago real estate, but the Great Fire of 1871 wiped him out financially.
A couple years later he and his family were planning to visit Europe. Delayed because of some biz stuff, he sent his family on ahead.
The ship wrecked. His wife survived. But his four daughters did not.
When he finally did board ship to join his wife, he asked the captain to point out where the shipwreck had taken place.
Imagine that moment of reflection. Him, imagining the horror. Experiencing the loss.
And so he turned to the one place he knew he could find peace beyond understanding. He penned these words:
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
But can you relate? Can you sing – really sing – it is well with my soul?
I had to ask myself that question this week.
After a big life change last summer I embarked on a journey to watch my favorite show – M*A*S*H – and remember my roots.
I finished a few days ago. The final episode was called Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen. For a long time it held the record as the most-watched episode of anything ever.
In it, the avuncular Colonel Potter is having a conversation with Max Klinger, the guy, you might remember, who hated Korea and the army so much tried to get out of the army by wearing women’s clothes…except that now he’s fallen in love with a Korean woman. The war ends, and he’s torn. He spent all this time trying to get out, and now he’s in love.
And Colonel Potter’s wizened advice was…
If you love somebody, you got nothing but trouble. So you either stop loving them, or you love them a whole lot more. ~ Colonel Sherman Potter, M*A*S*H, Goodbye, Farewell, Amen
The crazy thing is, that’s a rather Jesus-like quote.
No, Jesus didn’t say something like that, but agape love is the giving, self-sacrificial love that God himself displayed on the cross and modeled for us in the life of Jesus.
In other words, it doesn’t mean we don’t experience pain and junk. But we love with a love that comes from a place – the only place – that gives us peace and hope that we can give to others…the place that knows “it is well with my soul.”
People around us are in pain. And to be fair, maybe you are, too. That’s okay. God knows. His particularly present reminder to us…are you going to trust me?
At its best life is messy. And right now is not “at its best” for many, many people.
The cost of being a Jesus-follower is high. But what are we going to do? Stop loving him and others? Or, like Colonel Potter says, maybe we should just love ‘em a whole lot more.
I like the way Paul puts it to the Corinthians:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.[1] 2 Co 1:3-5, CSB
The complete irony is that Jesus’ peace isn’t greatest when we’re comfortable. It’s not when the economy’s good, it’s not when a relationship with a significant other is firing on all cylinders, it’s not when some estranged relationship is repaired and renewed.
Peace is found when we wade in and love ‘em a whole lot more.
Leaning on Jesus.
Singing.
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
I love you. Amen? Amen.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 2 Co 1:3–5.