A Strong & Trustworthy Anchor

By: Joanne Viola

“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.
It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.” (Hebrews 6:19, NLT)

The word “anchor” has been stuck in my thoughts for days now. One verse, and one word, flashes me back to a time when we owned a boat. We often went out of Boston Harbor to go fishing and watch firework displays.

One day in particular, a friend insisted on dropping the anchor. My husband usually did this as he was very careful to make sure the anchor “held”. Our friend dropped it, promising that it was good, and our focus returned to fishing and conversation.

It took a while but we came to realize we had gone out to sea, as the anchor was not as secure as one would hope, and we had drifted. We were safe but several lessons have never been forgotten:

• An anchor must be secured. An anchor is heavy, but unless we drop it down and let it settle in a good place, it is useless.
• The drifting process happens slowly. There were three of us on the boat that day and yet not one of us realized we were drifting away. We looked up and suddenly were saying, “Was that buoy there when we dropped the anchor?” Drifting is a slow compromise, a fading of our joy. It was funny that day while fishing. Not so funny when we drift away from the Lord.
• Focus must always be maintained. The shoreline looked the same even though we were now a few miles away from where we had begun. We can so easily think we are still on the right path. Much the way we were distracted with our fishing and conversation, the enemy of our souls will keep us distracted and from noticing our lives are drifting away from the Lord.

The words of this poem state it beautifully:

“I have an anchor
held close and tight
my rock, strength
all that is solid and safe
but useless in my hand
I must let it go, release
the full weight of it
so it may sink deep and hold
in all that is true
all that is You
(by Karin Fendick, “From Ashes to Glory: A Psalm a Day)

Our hope is our anchor and
will always keep us anchored in Christ.
Be sure your anchor is secure.

Photo by Rostyslav Kondrat on Unsplash