An Anchor for the Soul

Hope. Can we live without it? Sure, we can breathe, eat and sleep without it. But can we live?

I was walking in the proverbial ditch, down there with the mud, rocks, and thistles. Everything looked bleak...for several days. I had let circumstances get to me -- circumstances I couldn't control -- and turned into a worry-warthog. Pretty.

Enough was enough. I needed something more solid than the news or a favorite song or my most recent thoughts. Let me share what I found:

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not bcause of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according the hope of eternal life." Titus 3.4-7

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, that He may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine." Psalm 33.18-19

"But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; ...O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities."
Psalm 130.4, 5, 7, 8
{emphasis added}

My favorite of all:

"So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 6.17-20

There is such refreshment in actually believing the words of God. My sieve brain may not always remember it, but my soul is anchored to a sure and steadfast hope. Jesus Christ, our only hope. Victorious. Certain. Accomplished.