Settled in the Storm

Sunday morning’s message was a call to spiritual maturity. It was an invitation to take our eyes off ourselves, our circumstances, or those around us and focus our attention on Christ. Our relationship with Him is the anchor that steadies us.

How often, though, do we expect that we will settle when life does?

Consider how many people have lofty goals of who they will be when “life settles down”. People seem to think their greatest growth will be after the storm has calmed. Attempts they will make, a prayer life they will cultivate, convictions they will uphold. Investments into their families and ministries they will pour into. And a relationship with God that they fully intend to deepen. Not now, in the chaos of the current atmosphere. But later.

The problem is, the longer the ship endures without the anchor, the more the storm dictates its destination. The anchor is most vital in the middle of the storm, not after it’s over.

The time to deepen our relationship with God is now. There are storms raging in our nation, in our churches, in our families and in our own lives. It is through these storms that God desires to build our faith and deepen our reliance on Him. God does not only work between storms, but in them.

Settled saints are those who learn to put down the anchor in the middle of the storm.

Allowing God to settle us in the midst of the storm requires great intention. Because when we focus on what God is doing in us rather than what is happening around us, we stop looking for an escape route. Anchors don’t allow us to run away. They position us to endure.

Whatever storms we may be in, the stability that God desires to cultivate in us is not found in a set of better circumstances or in an easier path. It is built when we cling to the anchor as the storm rages on, and find once again that He is enough. The winds and waves give us opportunity to experience the strength of our Anchor- one storm at a time.