Sea Anchors Hold Steady
Woody Allen supposedly said, “Life is hard, then you die.”
When I turn one way, I see a younger friend ambushed by cancer. Looking the other direction and there is a family quietly grieving while standing in the ashes of their burned home. To my left is a believer caught up in what looks to be a collection of self-inflicted wounds that he can’t seem to escape. And behind me cues up a line of folks each with a story hard to hear and even harder to understand.
Maybe Woody was right.
But then an old hymn crossed my path a bit ago, written in 1882, by Priscilla Jane Owen called Will Your Anchor Hold? It got me to thinking. The first lines set the tone.
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
The vivid imagery draws from Hebrews 6:18-20. Take a gander, then read it again.
Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Owen assumes hard times are a part of life and so picks up the image of a “strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls” that holds a believer solid no matter what storm rages. Our ships are meant to sail, not kept tied up in the harbor safely out of harm’s way, but out in the waves that expose every boat to the dangers of the sea. The hymn asks a searching question: What will you rely on when the storm’s fury bears down?
Sea anchors slow and steady a sailing ship in a storm and keep it from being swept away and onto the rocks. Our savior, Jesus, is our anchor: Strong and unyielding. Hidden deep and unseen, but able to hold. He is our stability no matter what life batters us with. The hymn repeats this note of assurance, in the midst of, not after the danger has passed.
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll;
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.
Our “Rock” is all of who God is, and Jesus is the visible representation of the invisible God. Reviewing him as resource for life always helps us stand strong.
He is the one who created you.
As the good shepherd he knows your name, protects you from any threat, and laid down his life for yours.
He demonstrated his love toward us long before we turned toward him.
Our Brother, Jesus, opened a way to life, now and forever after.
He went ahead to prepare a place for us and left us with God the Spirit to guide and encourage and empower those who follow for all they will face.
Our Anchor snagged on this Rock holds us firmly while the storm rages all around and tosses our little boat. The tossing is real, but so is our assurance the rock will hold. You’ve seen this in action in the lives of those who face the terrible with a grace and endurance that comes from confidence in their anchor, Jesus. They don’t hope for an easy life, but for a life convinced that God is at work in the midst of the mess.
Storms are inevitable. Strong tides and hidden reefs threaten the worst outcomes, and we seem to be at the mercy of winds and waves and dangerous seas. He invites us to trust in his ability to hold us firmly in his grace, learning to trust more all through the trial. And as we grow in trust, our character matures, deepens, and is refined.
So then, dear friend, it makes sense that some 365 times the Bible has a version of “don’t be afraid” in the text. It’s almost as though that thought is to be a daily reminder of how we are not alone, even in the worst of days. Our anchor holds.
Priscilla Jane was onto something. This turns out to be something key to your life and mine (you can hear the hymn in the clips below). Our anchor holds in the Savior’s love.
The next time the storm rocks your world, remind yourself of your true security, Jesus, and that he holds you now and always. Try that on for size this morning. Your anchor holds!
Music? We got it right here…
And bad jokes? Sure, you betcha
There was a little boy named Johnny who used to hang out at the local corner market. The owner didn't know what Johnny's problem was, but the boys would constantly tease him. They would always comment that he was two bricks shy of a load, or two pickles short of a barrel. To prove it, sometimes they would offer Johnny his choice between a nickel (5 cents) and a dime (10 cents) and John would always take the nickel—they said, because it was bigger.
One day after John grabbed the nickel, the store owner took him aside and said, "Johnny, those boys are making fun of you. They think you don't know the dime is worth more than the nickel. Are you grabbing the nickel because it's bigger, or what?"
Slowly, Johnny turned toward the store owner and a big grin appeared on his face and Johnny said, "Well, if I took the dime, they'd stop doing it, and so far I have saved $20!"
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Yesterday I was buying 2 large bags of dog food at Walmart. I was about to check out when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had—an elephant?
Since I had little else to do, on impulse, I told her that no I didn't have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital last time. On the bright side though, I had lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of every hole in my body and IVs in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to give it a try again. (I have to mention here that everyone in the line was enthralled with my story by now.)
Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food had poisoned me. I told her no; I had stopped in the middle of the parking lot to scratch my fleas and a car hit me.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard.
Walmart won't let me shop there anymore.