For this is what the
LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations
like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on
her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you—”
Isaiah 66:12
Today I wish to infect you with a song, as I have been. The
initial word picture of peace that
popped into my head, from the moment I decided to break its components down,
was the first line of Horatio Gates Spafford’s great hymn, It is Well With My Soul: “When
peace, like a river, attendeth my way.” Now I cannot let it go. It is with
me in my quiet times, on my bike, along the walking trail, today the beach, in
the shower, waiting in traffic, cleaning my house.
Yes, I know the story: H. G. Spafford’s four daughters
drowned in the wreck of the Ville de Havre on their way to Britain, his wife Anna
surviving. As he travelled across the Atlantic to join her, over the spot of
the wreck he poured out his sorrow in the words to this powerful hymn. From God’s
Word, comfort and obviously peace reached his soul.
I have had to ponder the concept of peace like a river. Rivers, to me, are not necessarily peaceful.
Sure you can float lazily down some, trailing your paddle behind. But hike
beside the churning rivers in the Rockies, or shoot their white water rapids in
a raft if you’re up for a bit of adventure. So why did God promise peace like a
river to Israel way back when?
While the Hebrew word for river could refer to anything from
a stream to the mighty Nile or Euphrates, its primitive root has some
fascinating connotations: to sparkle, as in the sheen on a running stream; or
to lighten. So let’s say it is a stream, tumbling gently over the rocky parts
of our lives, comforting, peaceful, lightening our loads.
However, we can’t negate the importance of the Nile. At one
time, 99% of Egypt lived along its banks. Its cyclical flooding nourished the
soil so the crops could survive the dry seasons. Deserts are difficult to farm.
Israel too was quite barren and basically had to develop major irrigation
systems to feed its people. Rivers provided nourishment and life.
From the peace of streams and the nourishment of flooding
rivers of Isaiah 66:12, God quickly takes us to the comfort of mothers. It is
easy to see how Spafford made his transition to comfort: Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know, “It is well, it is well
with my soul.”
So may peace like a river comfort you as it did H.G.Spafford.
And may you be infected with all the verses of this hymn as I am. Drag out your
old hymnal or google it now. Allow it to permeate the folds of your soul.
Nancy P
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