Introducing “Unedited’ + It Is Well
Welcome to the Unedited Podcast.
· The goal of this podcast is to help you develop and enjoy the habit of daily Bible reading and prayer.
· Through this podcast, I am hoping to help you see the Word of God with fresh eyes, and ultimately to fall in love with your Bible.
· The Word of God will literally sustain you through every seasons of your life. It is not just a book. It is a living document—breathed by God. It is how we get to know God. It is alive and powerful and it is possible to have a relationship with your Bible. It is the Word of God heals the deep places of our souls. If ever there is a time that we need the Word of God, it is now.
It Is Well.
These are words spoken by a woman, simply known as the “Shunamite woman,” in 2 Kings chapter 4. Without going into all the details of the story, she had been given the promise of a child as a result of her care for Elisha. Though she has been barren, and her husband is “old,” the word spoken over her comes to pass and she holds a sweet baby in her long empty arms. But the story takes a tragic turn, and there comes a day where her promise is brought to her and unexpectedly dies on her lap. (2 Kings 4:20) Though the circumstance looks very bleak, and most would consider it final, she refuses to accept a dead promise. She lays her precious son on the bed of the man of God and asks her husband to prepare a donkey for her, that “I may run to the man of God and return again.” He questions “why,” and without one detail shared, she simply states, “IT SHALL BE WELL.” No mention is made of the death or finality, just that everything is going to be okay. When she arrives at Mt. Carmel, she is seen “yonder” by Elisha and his servant. Elisha sends his servant to run to her and ask if it is “well” with her? her husband? Her child? She responds with 3 words of faith: “IT IS WELL.” She did not go into the story or even acknowledge the reality of the situation until she got to the man of God. And when she reaches him, she refuses to let go of him until the faith revealed by her words becomes the reality revealed in her life. “And the mother of the child said, as the Lord lives and as my soul lives, I will not leave you. And he arose and followed her.”
Elisha arrives at her home and a series of steps produce miraculous results. The promise that once lay dead on the bed, sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha calls for her and says, “Take up thy son.”
The story ends rather abruptly with the following verse: “Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.” IT WAS WELL. Her words of faith paved the way for miracle power to unfold in a hopeless situation. What most would have seen as a finality became one of the few resurrections from the dead on the pages of Scripture.
The Shunamite woman’s story takes what we would consider a beautiful plot twist to a happy ending. But I believe it would have been well with her even if the story had ended differently. She was clearly a woman of faith…and faith does not always see the results it hopes for. Faith holds on when prayers are not answered. Faith remains through challenges, trials, adversity, struggle, and hardship.
I am reminded of another individual who said, “IT IS WELL.” His name was Haratio G. Spafford, and he penned the famous hymn, “It is Well With My Soul” in 1873. The words he spoke and words we sing to this day were not birthed from miracles or answered prayers. Mr. Spafford wrote the lyrics of his soul following deep loss and tragedy.
From Wikipedia, we see the story unfold: “This hymn was written after traumatic events in Spafford's life. The first two were the death of his four-year-old son and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer and had invested significantly in property in the area of Chicago that was extensively damaged by the great fire).[2] His business interests were further hit by the economic downturn of 1873, at which time he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre. In a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone …" Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died…”
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
You see, the words of faith, “IT IS WELL…IT SHALL BE WELL” can be spoken in hope of a miracle, but they can also be spoken in the wake of tragedy. “Our faith is not in outcomes.” (--Pastor Hanthorn) Our faith and the condition of our soul is not dependent upon what we see with natural eyes. Our faith is, according to Hebrews 11, “the evidence of things unseen.” Our faith holds onto hope while we say “IT IS WELL” with a dead promise laying on the bed. And our faith holds onto the sovereignty of God when loss rocks our world and leaves our souls in shreds and tatters. IT IS WELL can be spoken before the miracle, and IT IS WELL can be spoken following the lack thereof. Faith is sometimes proven by a tenacious clinging to the goodness of God when life doesn’t look “good.”
It can be well with your soul when it is not well with your life.
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know
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.
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!
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.
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!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
A song in the night, oh my soul!
—Horatio G. Spafford
It is well, it shall be well, come what may, because I walk through it with an unchanging God. No storm can shake Him. No trial suprises Him. He is the same: yesterday…today…forever…
With the Shunamite Woman and Mr. Spafford, I will speak the words of faith…
It is well, It is well, with my soul.
