Saturday, July 01, 2017 The God Pause Daily Devotion - The Lutheran Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Saturday, 1 July 2017 “When Peace Like a River” (ELW 785)

The God Pause Daily Devotion - The Lutheran Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Saturday, 1 July 2017 “When Peace Like a River” (ELW 785)“When Peace Like a River” (ELW 785)
1. 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.
Refrain:
It is well (it is well)
with my soul, (with my soul,)
it is well, it is well with my soul.
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and has shed his own blood for my soul.

Refrain:
It is well (it is well)
with my soul, (with my soul,)
it is well, it is well with my soul.
3. He lives--oh, the bliss of this glorious thought;
my sin, not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain:
It is well (it is well)
with my soul, (with my soul,)
it is well, it is well with my soul.
4. Lord, hasten the day when our faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
the trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall descend;
even so it is well with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well (it is well)
with my soul, (with my soul,)
it is well, it is well with my soul.
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It was in the spring of 1987 when I was in the Army Chaplain's School at Ft. Monmouth, that I came to love this wonderful hymn, "When Peace Like a River." I was in training to become a military chaplain where I would minister to soldiers' spiritual needs, while their bodies and minds were to be used for the war machine. It was here that I had to deal with the fact that the soul and the body, the spirit and the flesh, are not always in sync. Killing is something one can be trained to do, but to do that requires over-riding one's spiritual aversion to destroying life. There I learned that surviving entailed separating body and soul; there I learned that in this broken world, "trials would come," "Satan would buffet," and yet, it could "be well with my soul." Not only soldiers, but civilians share this challenge.
Help me, O Lord, this day to remember just how fractured we are as human beings. Whether soldiers or civilians, our bodies and our souls are often at odds and we need your presence for our souls to "be well," even when our bodies are sick. Heal us, O Lord. Amen.
John Matthews, '75
Pastor, Grace Lutheran Church, Apple Valley, Minn.
The Luther Seminary
2481 Como Avenue
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108, United States
Telephone: 651-641-3456
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