Hope can be somewhat of a vague word. We try to have hope when things are looking rough in life. We try to have hope when we don’t understand what is happening around us. But hope is deep within, and can be difficult to explain. But the picture of hope here is one of strength and security. Hope is described as an anchor for our souls.
Think of a boat on a body of water, and there is a storm brewing. The waters on the lake are choppy, the wind howls loudly in our ears, and the oars we have to paddle with are fairly useless because of this great storm. But there’s this anchor in the boat. In this word picture, you and I are the people in the boat. The storm is the challenges and difficulties of our lives. The storm makes the otherwise calm waters of life choppy and scary. They toss the boat and threaten to capsize it. The wind is the voice in the storm. It threatens and creates fear as it whistles and screeches. The wind tells us that we’ll never make it, that we are alone on the water. But hope is the anchor.
When an anchor is thrown overboard from a boat, it does not stop the storm. It does not stop the wind. You are there, in the boat, waiting out the storm. But you are anchored. You are steady. The storm will eventually calm down, and when it does, you will be able to safely use those oars again, and get your boat to shore.
Hope anchors us in this way through our personal storms. When I toss the anchor of hope out during the difficulties of life, I count on that anchor to keep my faith solid and steady as the storm fury’s on around me. “This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.” Strong, and trustworthy.
This hope is not just hope itself, but it is the promise of God in Jesus.
When I allow my trust in Jesus and His word to be my strength, I know that He will anchor me. When the storm passes, and it will, I will not be a drift at sea. I will be safe and secure, and I will have held strong through the storm, allowing Him to hold me steady in my little boat.
It’s not enough to wish we never had to endure storms. We have go go into the storm prepared. We need to bring our anchor.
Image by Kerstin Riemer from Pixabay
Pursuing Purpose 