My anchor holds

In Times Like These
(Ruth Caye Jones - Mother Jones)

In times like these, we need a Savior
In times like these, we need an anchor
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He's the one
This Rock is Jesus, The only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

In times like these, oh be not idle
In times like these we need the Bible
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

That Rock is Jesus, Yes, He's the one
That Rock is Jesus, The only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

In times like these, I have a Savior
In times like these, I have an anchor
I'm very sure, I'm very sure
My anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

That Rock is Jesus, Yes, He's the one
That Rock is Jesus, The only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.

Sometimes, it seems God has left us adrift. It can seem as though He is allowing us to be cast aside, perhaps through illness. While our 'Christian brains' know better, our childish hearts ache for the comfort of normal routines. [Funny, isn't it, how "normal" life leaves us pseudo-complaining about the rush of our lives, but as soon as we are side-lined, we find ourselves clawing our way back to that "Normal" we miss so much. :-) ]

Sometimes, God adjusts our plans, and we aren't able to determine the reason. When I heard this hymn on a live stream recently, I was reminded of one reason God might allow us to be sidelined, sometimes temporarily, and sometimes permanently.

Throughout history, we have sought the reason for problems in a Christian's life. Job's friends wondered what he had done to deserve his trials, and in the first-century, even Jesus was asked whether the parents' sin had caused the child's problems. Not much has changed. In the twenty-first century, I find myself constantly asking the Lord whether there is something I could learn, accomplish, or repent of in order to change my present circumstances. But then, I am reminded, in such a loving and sweet refrain, that My Rock is Jesus.

These words were originally written as a slave song. Can you imagine the trials they faced? So much worse than my little-bitty problems! If they could sing of their dependence on the Savior and the Bible, then I, too, can rest on His strength.

The truth is as obvious now as when the phrases were first penned: All I need is the Savior, and He is the one my anchor holds to.