The anchor

As a child I had the blessing of spending many hours sailing on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf. 

However not all our sailing days were as idyllic as this image. Some days were stormy, and not only due to the weather! I was a very headstrong teenager who didn't always want to go away on family boating weekends (but that is another story for another day). 

Normally after a stormy day we would mostly find shelter in a quiet bay. The anchor would go down and the boat would settle in the stillness. 

Until the wind changed - in either direction or strength.

Sometimes the wind would build and the boat start to swing on the anchor, to the left (port), then back to the right (starboard). Most times the anchor would hold firm and we would be safe.

So why am I sharing this boating story?

Well, the other day I was watching some moored boats on the lake, the wind was rather strong, creating white caps. I observed the boats doing that swinging action, first to the left and then back around to the right, bouncing up and down at the same time as the waves rolled towards them. They were getting buffeted.

Aside from bringing back childhood memories of boating adventures, as I watched these boats I felt that God was saying to me, Wendy, watch how they swing, buffeted by the wind, but the anchor stays firm.

Then I found myself singing the words of the Hillsong's  Anchor,

I have this hope
As an anchor for my soul
Through every storm
I will hold to You ....

... There is hope in the promise of the cross
You gave everything to save the world You love
And this hope is an anchor for my soul
Our God will stand
Unshakeable

Our God will stand Unshakeable. We will be buffeted. But in Jesus we will always have hope.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:19 NKJV 

Hope. An anchor for the soul. Circumstances will come. In the midst of them we need to hold on to that hope - even if it seems like a pin-prick of light at the end of a very long tunnel.  That light is Jesus. He overcame the darkness.

In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it]. John 1:4-5 AMP  

Let's get that truth into our souls -

The Light shines on in the darkness .... for the darkness has never overpowered it ...

never put it out ...

never absorbed it ...

never appropriated it ...

And it is unreceptive to it.

Jesus, the Light of the world, your Light, my Light.

Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, I am the Light of the world. He who follows me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is Life. John 8:12 AMP

Sometimes that light may seem dim to us as our circumstances try to overshadow it, but always remember Jesus will never be overpowered. 

So when that buffeting next comes in your life, or maybe you are being buffeted right now, let's choose to lift our eyes, look to the Light, putting our hope in Jesus.

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:18-20 The Message