Held Firm

 

 

An ANCHOR is a heavy device attached to a boat or ship by a rope or chain and dropped into the water to hold that vessel in place, secure from any movement caused by wind or current.

This word is sometimes used metaphorically for any person or thing that provides strength and support, such as a star player on a sports team, or an emotional strong person that holds others together, or a business that keeps a community strong.

Anchor is used both ways in the Bible, first to describe its use with ships and only once to describe how God is an anchor for His people, yet this is a powerful image:

Hebrews 6:13–19. “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, ‘Surely I will bless you and multiply you.’ And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain . . . .”

Anchors achieve holding power either by "hooking" into the seabed or to a strong mass such as a block or slab of concrete resting on the seabed. Smaller vessels have anchors with metal flukes that hook to rocks on the bottom or bury themselves in the soft seabed.

This is a picture of the hope given to me by God. I am held in place by two things: His promises (certain because He cannot lie) and His oath to keep His promises. When God says something, it is hooked into the reality of His character. Because God is faithful and powerful, He will do exactly what He says.

Anchors are attached to a vessel by a “rode” also called a cable or “warp” that is made of rope and/or chain. This rode is long enough to reach the place to attaches and holds the vessel in place.

This also is an image of how God attaches His people to the promises that hold us in His care. The rode is His written Word combined with the interpreting and illuminating power of the Holy Spirit. The promises are recorded for His people to read, study, memorize and meditate upon, filling us with the hope He sets before us and keeping us from drifting away when pressured by anything other than His grace.

Closely tied to the idea of an anchor is the vessel. It suggests to me the Body in which I am are traveling as I navigate through the sea of life. Instead of being battered about, I am held by God. Instead of letting the onslaughts that rage about trying to move me off course, I am held in a community, a body of God’s people who help me stay the course and keep my eyes on Jesus and the truths of His Word:

Ephesians 4:11–14. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Application of this anchor idea is simple: stay the course relying on the truth of God’s Word and His promises, trusting Him to bring me to my glorious destination. Trust Him also to use the leaders and others in my church to build me up. Listen to them and to Him so I am not distracted or tossed about by false doctrine or Satan’s deceitful schemes. The Body of Christ is like a sailing vessel, yet anchored in God’s Word so I must stay in it, remembering that all God has done and is doing is tied to His great faithfulness. No matter what is battering our boat, He is taking care of us, just as He promised He would.