In my previous post, I talked about the importance of anchors - those deep convictions that hold us steady in the middle of life's storms. My point was that we need to have our anchor read before the storm hits. I've been blessed that, over the years, God has deepened my convictions on three essential truths about him that now form the anchors that hold me steady during this present storm in my life. If you've been reading these entries all along, these won't be new thoughts. I've mentioned them often, and even clumped them together once or twice. But here they are in expanded form.

Anchor 1: God is sovereign (see my post on this from September 2018)
     The word I first used was "mighty." Then I deleted that and wrote "almighty." But "sovereign" explains it better. The word sovereign includes might and power and authority. In simpler terms, we can say it as, "God is in control." The bottom line is that nothing happens to go against his mighty will. Though he gives us free will to make choices, and though many in the world choose evil, God is powerful and able to step in at any point and change any situation. This includes the hard times and the good times. He does not stand helplessly by, powerless to intervene while I suffer. No. I could not worship a God who had not power over my life. Job, in his suffering, recognized that even his worst day was under God's sovereign control when he asked in Job 2:10, "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” It anchors me to know that, whatever happens, God is in control.

Anchor 2: God is wise (see my post on this from October 2018)
     In the comedy film "Bruce Almighty," Jim Carey's character, Bruce, is temporarily given the power of God. After using the power selfishly for a while, he soon learns that he doesn't have the wisdom to have that kind of power. Imagine giving the power of a king to a teenager and what kinds of disasters would follow. We can declare that God is mighty, that he is in control, even that he is sovereign; but that is of little comfort if his power is not used wisely.

     In circumstances like mine, it's not easy to say that God's plan for me right now is wise. But that's why I needed to get this anchor on board in my heart before the storm. I've spent many years meditating on God's declaration in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." His ways are not just different from mine, they are better, wiser.

     And it is the height of human arrogance to demand that God's ways be explained to me before I agree with them. I don't see the whole picture, and what I do see is still unclear. Someday (but not too soon, I hope!) I will see clearly:  "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). It anchors me to know that, though I don't yet understand how, God is wise.

Anchor 3: God is good (see my post on this from November 2018)
     As any fan of comics can tell you, supervillains are usually almost as strong as the heroes, if not stronger. And often they are just as smart, if not smarter, than the good guys. So just saying God is mighty and that he is also wise leaves open the possibility that he is a horror beyond comprehension, an evil, manipulative genius.  Or perhaps an all-seeing, all-knowing watcher who cares little for our little lives. 

     But he is not that. The third leg of this stool (if I can switch metaphors) that keeps the seat steady is that this almighty, wise God is also exceedingly good. We skim the promise of Romans 8:28,"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good," and expect that everything will be to our advantage. If God is good and almighty, and he works all things for my good, then I won't suffer. I won't get cancer. I won't be hurt by someone I love. But that's not really goodness. Look at the rest of the verse: "for those who are called according to his purpose." God's goodness works in line with God's purposes for us. Purposes that follow his surpassing wisdom. Purposes that involve crosses and trials and shipwrecks and cancers and flames. Purposes that expose the weakness of earthly comforts and joys, loosening our heart's grip on such things so that we cling to the only source of true delight - God himself. Purposes that will shape us into something much better than what we have imagined for ouselves.  He loves us too much to let us stay comfortable in our idolatries.  

     So there is it: My three-pronged anchor that holds me in the storm. My three-legged stool that keeps me steady. I have taught and preached these things for many years. I have known them for many years more. And now the storm comes, my anchor holds me steady. I think this post deserves a follow-up, in which I show that when the author of Hebrews says, "We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19), he is referring to Jesus. In Jesus I see vividly the sovereign strength, surpassing wisdom, and satisfying goodness of God. He is my anchor. Amen.