The Anchor

Yesterday I wrote about hope springs eternal. Click here to read that blog post. Today, another dose of “hopeful” writing.

Have the last three years living under the strain of a pandemic deposited despair into your soul? Does the current humanitarian crisis in Ukraine bring despondency to your heart? Has a current health or financial issue gotten you feeling disheartened? Do the walls of the deep pit you find yourself in seem just too high to climb? Maybe you feel like a ship in the middle of the ocean, with no motor and no anchor, simply drifting at the mercy of the wind and waves?

Are you feeling hopeless today? You know, that feeling you have that makes it seem like tomorrow will be no better than today. Or maybe you If we are honest, we all feel some level of anxiousness, disquiet, and uneasiness. Let’s look at two verses in Scripture that I hope will bring a sense of calm, quietness, and peace to you and to me – “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19-20

Those verses say two things – First, like an anchor holds a ship from drifting away, your hope found in Jesus keeps you safe, He is a steadying anchor in the whole of life. And second, the inner sanctuary language in these verses takes us back to the tabernacle in the Old Testament, where a curtain separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place; that very place where God resided, but the people were not allowed to enter it, only the high priest was allowed to enter on behalf of the people. When Jesus died on the cross that curtain was torn in two (see Matthew 27:51), and we now have personal access to God, no longer needing someone to enter on our behalf.

So, what is the takeaway from these two verses? – Your hope is in Jesus and that hope does not depend upon what you can see or feel (or not see or not feel), but rather, your hope reaches into the very presence of God! And with Jesus, there is ALWAYS hope, even when the situation around us looks hopeless! In Him, you have an anchor for your soul.      

I end with these words – “The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).

If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you