Tag: Weekly

It is Well With My Soul

– Hymn Story

This beloved hymn was written by a Presbyterian layman from Chicago named Horatio G. Spafford who born in North Troy, New York, on October 20, 1828. As a young man Spafford had established a successful legal practice in Chicago. Along with his financial success, he always maintained a keen interest in Christian activities. He enjoyed a close and active relationship with D. L. Moody and other evangelical leaders of that era. He was described by George Stebbins, a noted gospel musician, as a “man of unusual intelligence and refinement, deeply spiritual, and a devoted student of the Scriptures.”

Some months prior to the Chicago Fire of 1871, Spafford had invested heavily in real estate on the shore of Lake Michigan, and his holdings were wiped out by this disaster. Desiring a rest for his wife and four daughters as well as wishing to assist Moody and Sankey in one of their campaigns in Great Britain, Spafford planned a European trip for his family in November of 1873. Due to unexpected last minute business developments, he had to remain in Chicago, but he sent his wife and four daughters ahead as scheduled on the S.S. Ville du Havre. He expected to follow in a few days. On November 22 the ship was struck by the Lochearn, an English vessel, and sank in twelve minutes. Several days later the survivors were finally landed at Cardiff, Wales, and Mrs. Spafford cabled her husband, “Saved alone.” Shortly afterwards near the sea where his four daughters had drowned, Spafford penned this text whose words so significantly describe his own personal grief – “When sorrows like sea billows roll…” It is noteworthy, however, that Spafford’s hymn does not dwell on the theme of life’s sorrows and trials but focuses attention in the third stanza on the redemption work of Christ and in the fourth stanza anticipates His glorious Second Coming. Humanly speaking, it is amazing that one could experience such personal tragedies and sorrows as Horatio Spafford did and still be able to say with such convincing clarity, “It is well with my soul.”

Honour Our Parents

Deuteronomy 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

On Mother’s Day, it is fitting to rehearse the Lord’s 5thcommandment, the foremost of human relations, for children to honour their father and mother. A command to give thanks to father and mother for they are the imparter of life to us. Without them, we will not have our existence. Children owe their existence to their mothers who gave birth to them after carrying them in their womb. Not an easy task to carry, bear and finally to give birth. The physical toil upon the mother’s body is tremendous from conception to the full term of the baby, not to mention the painful process of childbirth.

When the baby is born, the mother began the process of caring for the little baby amidst her physical weariness after childbirth. The feeding of the baby, the changing of the diapers, the cleaning and bathing. The mother communicates with the baby by her touch, by her voice, by her presence, bringing love and security to the infant child.

The infant grows to be a toddler, able to turn, crawl and learning to walk. Mother is at hand to guide each step of the way. What an effort! The mother sings, speaks, prays, read the Scripture to the growing child, bringing the child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4b). The father is no less involved if not more in the upbringing of the child. What a responsibility entrusted to father and mother in the nurturing of the young life.

When the child is sick, feverish and weak, mother and father sponge the child, sometimes for long hours when the temperature is high. The occasions when the child is rushed to the clinic or the hospital, the anxious times of emergency. The toddler’s bible, the children’s bible, the bible stories read to the growing child. The bible songs taught to the delight of the child. The message of the gospel imparted, line by line, precept by precept, with prayer. Thank God for father and mother.

He Sought To See Jesus

A man’s most precious mission in life is to find his Saviour. More than his course of study, choice of career or even life-partner, is the privilege of being connected with Source of his origin, Sustainer of his life and Saviour of his body and soul – Jesus Christ.

(1) Jesus Came to Save Sinners (v1-3)

KJV Luke 19:1And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. 3And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.

Zacchaeus was a chief tax-collector, a very rich man with a successful career, in a worldly sense. But there was something amiss in his life which he sought to find. That missing link in his heart concerning life and its ultimate beginning and end. He was living in Israel, the only nation entrusted with the oracles of God’s law which reveals that man is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7).

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them… Genesis 2:7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

And that image of God in man was marred when man first sinned (Gen. 3:1-7) and as a result of man’s sin, sickness, pain, sorrow, finally physical death came upon man from generation to generation without recourse.

Jesus Christ, is the Saviour, prophesised in the Old Testament Scriptures, who will solve man’s sin problem to give man eternal life.