Utumishi Blog

After church the other day I had a conversation that went something like this:

A:  I really liked the Word this morning.
B:  What is it that you liked hasa?
A:  That we give out of gratitude not out of obligation.
B:  What is it that you are most grateful for?
A:  My health, my life, that I can walk here this morning.
B:  I am grateful for that too.  What else are you grateful for?
A:  That I have a job.  A lot of people haven’t got work but I have work.
B:  I am grateful for that too.  What else are you grateful for?
A:  For my family.  I have a wife and three lovely children.
B:  So do I.  I am very grateful for them too.  What else are you grateful for?
A:  Salvation.  That I am forgiven.

Is salvation our number 4?  Does Jesus come in not second best or even third best but fourth best?  I fear that if you listened to my prayers and thoughts and fears and affections then you would conclude the same of me.  Not only is this a massive insult to our great God and saviour, it robs us of delight and peace in Christ, it distorts our gospel, and it leaves us very vulnerable when health or job or family are attacked or taken away.

Now imagine you are a successful lawyer and a good steward of your resources, investing in property and generously supporting evangelists.  Then within three years your four-year-old son dies, all your property investments are destroyed in a terrible fire, and then as your wife and four daughters cross the Atlantic by ship ahead of you the ship is struck by another vessel and sinks in 12 minutes with loss of 226 people including all four of your daughters – only your wife is among the survivors.  As you travel by ship across the same sea to be reunited with your wife, what would you be thinking?  What would you be saying to God?  What state would your heart be in?  How many of us would be in a state to write words like these:

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.

How could Horatio Spafford write this as his boat passed over the same spot where his children had drowned?  Was he mad?  Was he being stoical?  No.  Christ was everything to him.  He counted his salvation his number one blessing.  He was full of joy even in the midst of the deepest sorrow – because of the Cross of Christ.  His greatest pain was sin and his greatest pleasure Christ.  His greatest prayer and desire was to see his Saviour, to see the Son of Man coming on the great resurrection day to complete his victory.  Mediate on these words…

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 my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.