Anchored? – What & Why

Anchored – in What and Why?

Hebrews 6:19 (ESV)  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

Acts 27:29 (ESV)  And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

For a boat the anchor and compass are two essential tools. The anchor is used to prevent the boat from drifting into shallow water were rocks and reefs can tear the haul of the boat (sink it). Therefore, a main purpose and use of an ‘anchor’ is to prevent the boat from drifting.

In our lives the Bible speaks of us needing to be anchored in the message from God for our wellbeing. The illustration of an anchor needed to protect the boat would well illustrate that we need to be anchored in the Word for our protection. God has provided us with the guidance system found in His Bible. In it is His truth that will be the necessity for of anchoring us with Him. The outcome when we fail to be in the ‘word’ is that we will find ourselves drifting.

A drifting boat is gradual and smooth as it rides the waves toward the dangerous waters. A drifting Christian has little awareness that they are in that process of drifting until hitting the ‘rock(s)’.To prevent unknown drifting we need to be in His ‘word’ each day. Frequently it has been admonished that when you rise up in the morning to be in His Word before the anxieties of the day confront us.

Would one not think of rising up and not getting dressed as we go out? Nor would we think of not recognizing that we need gas in the car in order to drive it. What result would be the outcome of our bodies if we didn’t feed it daily? (I know in America we find we sometime over feed it, but we remember not to starve our bodies.) The point is that the Bible is the food for our survival. The Bible is the needed item each day in our lives.

We need to appreciate that we live in a world designed and controlled by Satan. This influence seeps into us and robs us of being anchored in God’s Word. It causes one to ‘drift’ away and without realizing that it is happening. One doesn’t hear very often of a Christian that says he or she rose up on the 15 th of June and decided that was the day to stop seeking God’s will or to stop attending His church. Instead the absence from church is found to happen after a drifting away from being in the “Word”. Without God’s Word we fail to recognize that need of His continual guidance. We fail to feel the ‘love’ that God has for us. We begin to describe God as being something different. How do we describe our God?

Hebrews 6:19 (ESV)  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

Acts 27:29 (ESV)  And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

Psalm 119:105 (ESV) “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

The compass

The compass is used to navigate from one port to another. Of course in earlier days they used the stars, but it is similar for it or they become a guide for one’s travels. When one is leaving a port and the port of destination is south of it one would watch to see the needle points ‘south’. Going ‘north’ would be the opposite, but ‘east’ or ‘west’ would be as ‘veering off’. In our life we frequently would not deliberately take a ‘northern’ route, but do more a ‘veering off’. We engage in questionable activities or interests, miss occasions to be in church, take on responsibilities that prevent us from going to church, or other things.

The guide is ‘the Bible’ as Ps. 119:105 states that God’s Word (the Bible) is a lamp unto our feet and a light to guide us on the path. Quoting: Psalm 119:105 (ESV) “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

This explains the value of an anchor and a compass on a ship. We are ships at sea needing such tools in our daily lives. May God be of encouragement to you as you study His Word each day.

LDW