Hope as an anchor of the soul

(sorry for delay--new article tomorrow)

 When darkness veils his lovely face

I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

His oath, his covenant, his blood
Supports me in the 'whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay

On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand

Edward Mote (1797-1874), author of the great old hymn, My hope is built on nothing less, "falls into the rare category of hymn writers who grew up without religious training and whose parents were pub owners," writes Dr. C. Michael Hawn, professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology.

"He was apprenticed at a young age by his parents to be a cabinetmaker, but found faith when he heard the preaching of John Hyatt at the Tottenham Court Road Chapel in London at age 15.

“Living in Southwark near London, he established a successful cabinet-making enterprise and became a Baptist minister in 1852, at 55 years of age. He ministered for 21 years at Strict Baptist Church in Horsham, Sussex.

“Singing hymns was of great interest to him. The master cabinetmaker became a prolific hymn writer, composing more than 100 hymns. He published his hymns with selections by others in 1836 in Hymns of Praise, A New Selection of Gospel Hymns. Hymnologists note that this is the first time the now common term ‘gospel hymn’ appears.”

Speaking on the origins of My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, which is the legendary hymn The Solid Rock, Mote once relayed to London’s The Gospel Magazine: “One morning it came into my mind as I went to labour, to write an hymn on the ‘Gracious Experience of a Christian.’ As I went up to Holborn I had the chorus, On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. In the day I had four verses complete, and wrote them off . . . by the fireside I composed the last two verses.”

Baptist hymnologist William Reynolds summarizes the rest of the story: “The next Sunday Mote visited the home of some fellow church members where the wife was very ill. The husband informed Mote that it was their custom on the Lord’s Day to sing a hymn, read the Bible, and pray together. Mote produced the new hymn from his pocket, and they sang The Solid Rock together for the first time.”

*****

“In the Bible, hope is a confident expectation of a sure thing and one of the metaphors God uses to describe it in Hebrew 6 is as an anchor: [17] Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

[18] That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
[19] Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

“God had made a promise to Israel. He secured the promise by, 'I gave you my word and I gave you an oath. Two immutable things,' " explains Richard Jordan. "What does an anchor do? It sets you stedfast. It sets you unmovable. It gives you an absolute, unmovable confidence of a sure thing and when you have an anchor to the soul...

“Most of you won't recall Brother Bill Cash, who was our song leader years ago, but he was a Navy man who served in World War II. He loved to sing that song, My Anchor Holds. He would tell stories about being on a ship in the ocean and they would lay out the anchor.

“Bill said they’d get in a storm and the ship was tossed and they’d come into port wanting the ship to be stable. What the anchor does is it digs in and now you've got a solid foundation. Nothing's going to move you away.

“Hope, in the Scripture, is not something that may be or may not, it's an absolute sure thing and it's designed to give stability to your inner man.

“Romans 8:18 says, [18] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. [19] For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

“There's that future. That's Phase 3. You see that expression 'the earnest expectation'? That's what hope is!

"Verse 20: [20] For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. What hope? Verse 21: [21] Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

“The creation itself is waiting for the earnest expectation, to be delivered into this hope of the manifestation of the sons of God--of God's original purpose and plan being manifest.

“In the battle of the Christian life, the thing that's designed to keep your head in the game and your thinking properly focused, is that hope. Understand, it's not the hope of getting saved. It's not Phase 1. It's not the hope of living day by day. It's Phase 3.”

Here are the lyrics to My Anchor Holds, written in 1902 by William C. Martin:

Though the angry surges roll

1. On my tempest-driven soul,
   I am peaceful, for I know,
   Wildly though the winds may blow,
   I’ve an anchor safe and sure,
   That can evermore endure.
   • Refrain:
     And it holds, my anchor holds:
     Blow your wildest, then, O gale,
     On my bark so small and frail;
     By His grace I shall not fail,
     For my anchor holds, my anchor holds.
2. Mighty tides about me sweep,
   Perils lurk within the deep,
   Angry clouds o’ershade the sky,
   And the tempest rises high;
   Still I stand the tempest’s shock,
   For my anchor grips the rock.
3. I can feel the anchor fast
   As I meet each sudden blast,
   And the cable, though unseen,
   Bears the heavy strain between;
   Through the storm I safely ride,
   Till the turning of the tide.
4. Troubles almost ’whelm the soul;
   Griefs like billows o’er me roll;
   Tempters seek to lure astray;
   Storms obscure the light of day:
   But in Christ I can be bold,
   I’ve an anchor that shall hold.