Day 151

Hope Everlasting

The old sailor looked at the skies and saw a dark storm coming. As the sea became rough and choppy, the old salt calmly lowered the heavy-chained anchor link by link, battened down the hatches and went to bed for the night. 

He knew the storm would be rough. But he had faith in the grasp of the anchor. He knew his boat would be there in the morning.   Author Unknown

Bad news can be found anywhere. Current times can cause hopelessness in many people.  However, I have a living hope that cannot be quenched. I don't need to despair about things of this world. What can cause our hope to go sour? Often, we hope in the wrong things. It's so easy to place our hope in the wrong things. It's so easy to place our hope in this material world -- what we can see, taste, touch, and feel. These things can somehow seem to be controllable to us, but true hope can only be found in Jesus. 

"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast." Hebrews 6:29a

"My Anchor Holds"

William C. Martin, 1902

1. 1. Though the angry surges roll
   1. On my tempest-driven soul,
   1. I am peaceful, for I know,
   1. Wildly though the winds may blow,
   1. I’ve an anchor safe and sure,
   1. That can evermore endure.
   • 1. • Refrain:
     1. • And it holds, my anchor holds:
     1. • Blow your wildest, then, O gale,
     1. • On my bark so small and frail;
     1. • By His grace I shall not fail,
     1. • For my anchor holds, my anchor holds.
2. 1. Mighty tides about me sweep,
   1. Perils lurk within the deep,
   1. Angry clouds o’ershade the sky,
   1. And the tempest rises high;
   1. Still I stand the tempest’s shock,
   1. For my anchor grips the rock.
3. 1. I can feel the anchor fast
   1. As I meet each sudden blast,
   1. And the cable, though unseen,
   1. Bears the heavy strain between;
   1. Through the storm I safely ride,
   1. Till the turning of the tide.
4. 1. Troubles almost ’whelm the soul;
   1. Griefs like billows o’er me roll;
   1. Tempters seek to lure astray;
   1. Storms obscure the light of day:
   1. But in Christ I can be bold,
   1. I’ve an anchor that shall hold.

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition 

and the elemental spiritual forces of this world 

rather than on Christ."  Colossians 2:8