06/01/2026 – Book Four: Finding Peace in Life’s Storms / Chapter 2 – “The Anchor of Your Soul” / “The Anchor’s Unseen Grip excerpt – pgs. 319 – 320
“Best of all, there is the anchor’s unseen grip, “which entereth into that within the veil.” Our hope has such a grip on us that we are aware of it. It is like a boy with a kite. The kite is up in the clouds where he cannot see it, but he knows that it is there, for he feels it pull. When you are on a ship, you feel the pull of the anchor, and the more wind rages, the more you feel the anchor holding you.
Wehn a person can see an anchor, it is doing nothing, unless it happens to be a small anchor in shallow water. When an anchor is of use, it is gone from our sight. It has gone overboard with a splash. Far below, among the fish, lies the iron holdfast, quite out of sight.
We cannot see our spiritual anchor, and it would be of no use if we could see it. Our good hop has gone to heaven, and it is pulling and drawing us toward itself. Its use begins when it is out of sight, but it pulls, and we can feel the heavenly pressure.
Where is your hope? Do you believe because you can see? That is not believing at all. Do you believe because you feel? That is feeling; it is not believing. But “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Blessed is he who believes against his feelings, yes, and hopes against hope. It is a strange thing to to hope against hope, to believe in things that are impossible, to see things that are invisible. He who can do that has learned the art of faith. Our hope is not seen; it lies in the waves, or as the text says, “within the veil.” I am not going to run the analogy too closely, but a seaman might say that his anchor is within the watery veil, for a veil of water is between him and it, and therefore it is concealed. This is the confidence, that we have in God, “whom having not seen [we] love” (1 Peter 1:8).”
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“Let the winds blow, and billows roll, Hope is the anchor of my soul. But can I by so slight a tie, An unseen hope, on God rely? Steadfast and sure, it cannot fail, It enters deep within the veil, It fastens on a land unknown, And moors me to my Father’s throne.”
“Even though our anchor has gone out of sign, thank God that it has taken a very firm grip and “entirety into that within the veil” What hold can be equal to the one that a believer has on his God when he can exclaim, “You have promised. Therefore do as You have said?”
No grasp is firmer than this:
“Lord, You have sworn it, and You cannot go back on Your promise. You have said that he who believes in You is justified from all sin. Lord, I believe You. Therefore, be pleased to do as You have said. I know You cannot lie. You have sworn that Christ is a priest forever (Hebrews 5:6), and I am resting in him as my Priest who has made full atonement for me. I therefore holy You to Your oath. Accept me for the sake of Jesus’ sacrifice. Can You reject a soul for whom Your own Son is pleading? He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to Godby Him, because He continually lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25). My Lord, this is the hold that I have upon You. This is the anchor that I have cast into the deep, mysterious attributes of Your marvelous nature. I believe in You, and You will not make me ashamed of my hope.”
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Soli Deo Gloria!