A Weary Soul Needs a Steady Anchor
By Rick Warren
"My soul is weak from waiting for you to save me. My hope is based on your word." Psalm 119:81 (GW)
The anchor is as old a symbol of Christianity as the cross is. In fact, during the first 300 years of Christianity, believers used the anchor, not the cross, to secretly identify themselves. In a time of intense persecution by the Roman Empire, the anchor was a symbol of steadfast hope—the hope believers had in Jesus Christ.
The hope that sustained the early church is the same hope that we can anchor our lives to today.
The Bible sometimes pictures the problems in our lives as storms, with strong waves and winds that batter against us. And God’s Word, the Bible, is the anchor that stabilizes us in tough times.
Every one of us is going through some kind of storm right now, whether it’s a physical, emotional, financial, or relational storm.
How do you keep having hope when you just keep getting beat up?
You do what David did. You focus on God's Word, not your weakness.
David said, "My soul is weak from waiting for you to save me" (Psalm 119:81 GW).
Maybe you’ve been praying this to God for a long, long time, just like you've been praying for God to change something in your life for a long time. It’s left you feeling weak, worried, worn out, weary, and about to go under.
But, David continued, "My hope is based on your word" (Psalm 119:81 GW).
When you establish the Bible as the authority for your life and the basis for your hope—instead of the media or self-help or what other people think about you—then you are anchored to something solid, secure, and never changing. You stop drifting! You stop drifting through life because you have something that's always true and reliable to hold on to.
"Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth” (Ephesians 4:14 NLT).
Don’t let the shifting winds of culture and other people’s opinions wear you out anymore. You have the steadfast hope of God’s Word—the only thing in this world that does not change.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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