Oh, So Well

“Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you; so that he will not hear” —Isaiah 59:2, NIV.

There is no greater joy, no more profound release, than to know that the barrier that separates us from God has been removed. Our sin, all that we have been and done that has offended the holiness of God, hides Him from us. What exquisite relief when the wall is broken down, demolished by power of God, washed away by the blood of Christ shed on our behalf.

As I read this verse the words of one stanza of an old hymn came to mind:

“My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin, not the part but the whole.

Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.

It is well, with my soul.

It is well, it is well, with my soul.”

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL, Horatio Spafford, 1828-1888

The story behind the hymn is a tragic one, and though the first stanzas reflect the terrible loss suffered by Spafford, there is a point when the author turns from his grief to his joy. He expresses his gratitude that the barriers are down between him and God; that he has a place of comfort, of consolation, he can go to because Christ died and his sins are forgiven.

Our cries do not fall on deaf ears. The gates are open, the door to the throne room flung wide, the welcome mat rolled out, and the Lord is “in” for His children.

It is well, very well indeed.