The Storm, the Anchor, and the Sifting
By C. M. S.
EVERY element in the physical, political, and spiritual world is telling us that we are nearing the end of a mighty and tempestuous voyage. The harbor is near at hand. The storm increases as we near our promised haven. We have many times been compelled to cast anchor until the fury of the gale had spent itself. The question is often asked on shipboard, while faces are white with fear and anxiety, “Will the anchor hold?” Life or death is in the answer. No wonder the cheek is blanched and the lips parched, and the tongue almost refuses to articulate. But does your anchor hold now while every embattled element of sin, strife, confusion, and deception is striving to throw you upon the rocks of eternal destruction? Eternal life or unending death hangs on the true answer to that question. If it holds, God’s purpose in you and for you will be accomplished. If it fails to hold, then defeat is written over all that you might have been. Every wind of doctrine that Satan can cause to blow will be struggling to snap your anchor chain or break your anchor hold. They will assail your bark from every point of the compass, and try every possible wrench or strain to throw your bark upon the rocks. Sea captains, in times of exceptional danger, have been known to slip their anchor chain to escape it, but not when the tide and the wind are setting strongly toward the rocks. The danger is great; but it is not a danger that we can escape by slipping our anchor chain. If your anchor is fast in the Rock, Christ Jesus, no storm can destroy you. If you let go your hold, nothing can save you. Christ will never allow the storm to break your hold on him. He will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able to bear—above what he can strengthen you to bear. But he will not hold you against your will; he will not strengthen you for a stand you are unwilling to make. If you drift from his holding, it is because you have let go your hold on him. There is blessed peace in being in that place where you can say, “I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day.” If we commit our soul—our life—to him, he is able to keep that, to guard that, to guard and keep us. The Rock to which you anchored when you accepted Christ can never be moved though the islands sink in the sea, and the earth be shaken out of its place. Never waver, never doubt it. Do not for a moment weigh anchor, thinking to cast it in some surer spot. Do not slip your anchor chain for one moment, thinking thus to run from some danger that seems to threaten. Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” “In none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. Verily, “the foundation of God standeth sure.” “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus.” 1 Cor. 3:11. So outside of him there is no hope; so outside of him there is no anchorage for the soul. The last great storm of the long voyage is now on. You are riding it out at anchor, and the rocks are near. Eternal life depends on whether you maintain your anchorage in the eternal Rock—whether you choose to trust your all to him and rest in his keeping, or whether you let go your hold on him and seek by your own power and wisdom to work your way out of the terrible maelstrom, out of the foaming breakers, out of the very jaws of death itself. If Satan can induce you to do that, he has compassed your overthrow, for the maelstrom is his, the storm is his, the breakers are his, and you have taken yourself out of the hands of Christ, and are drifting into Satan’s. You can not afford to do that. Furthermore, you can not afford to withdraw yourself from that movement instituted under the direction of heaven for the culmination of God’s great work in the earth. There is no message to follow the great threefold message of Revelation 14. That message has been committed to a people to give. They are giving it—are penetrating with it into all the nations of earth. A perfect line of communication is maintained between headquarters and every mission and outstation in the world; and by this means, and by this means only, can an intelligent giving of this message be accomplished. God has not forsaken the people to whom that great trust has been committed. He has approved the organization under which they are operating. It is therefore the part of wisdom to beware of any teaching that tends toward the disintegration of that movement. He who works against that movement is working against him who has instituted it, and given it its work to do. Be not deceived by glowing phrases or eloquent words. This fact stands out indisputably that God has committed his last great work to a small and humble people. They are doing that work under his direction and approval, and when it closes, time will close, and our Lord will come. The great sifting process so long expected has come, and is doing its work. Some will stand through it, and some will be shaken out. Our attitude toward our personal Saviour, toward his Word, his message, his approved plan of giving it to the world, the humble servant through whom he admonishes—all will help in determining whether we shall be shaken out or stand victors among his triumphant people. C. M. S.