Our Anchor Holds

March 8, 2023

Psalm 40 begins: 

“I waited patiently for the Lord; 

And He inclined to me, 

And heard my cry. 

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, 

Out of the miry clay, 

And set my feet upon a rock, 

And established my steps. 

He has put a new song in my mouth— 

Praise to our God; 

Many will see it and fear, 

And will trust in the Lord.”

—vv. 1-3

As I read these words this morning, I remembered that we used to sing a song based on these verses; I Googled them to see if I could find the exact song we sang. I couldn’t find it, but did find one written by Rick Muchow, whom I remember as worship leader and songwriter when I visited Saddleback church in California years ago. Digging a bit deeper, I learned that he had passed away in 2021 from an aggressive brain cancer. 

Although his cancer wasn’t the same as what our son is facing, learning of Muchow’s death was sobering. He was young, talented, devoted to serving God and loving his family…and he was taken all too soon. We aren’t guaranteed long life just because we love Jesus. To the contrary, Jesus himself promised us trials and difficulties in this life, and countless of his followers have died young, the result of persecution. 

Hebrews 10:23 instructs us to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Holding fast to this profession isn’t always easy; we tend to waver when life throws its curve balls at us, which is why the exhortation needed to be given. In the sixth chapter of Hebrews, we are told to “lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (6:18-19). When life’s storms break upon us, if we don’t have an anchor, we will surely be blown upon the rocks. Our anchor doesn’t go down into the depths to grip the sea floor; it reaches to heaven where our hope really lies. 

The Good News is, our anchor holds, and because this anchor holds, we have a new song—praise to our God.