Blown Away

John Telgren

 

I remember looking out on the back deck, thinking someone had stolen our patio table.  It was gone.  We looked around the back yard; it was nowhere to be found.  We had thought that the wind from the night before might have blown it over.  But it was to no avail.  Later that day, I went out the front door, and there was our patio table along with the patio umbrella in the middle of the street.  We didn't think to look around front because we had a high privacy fence.  Evidently, the wind had taken the umbrella and the table, lifted them over the house, and deposited them in the middle of the street.  Of course the table and umbrella were both damaged.

 

This taught me the importance of having things anchored in place.  I went down and got a heavy weight to attach to the bottom of the patio umbrella to keep it in place, especially on breezy days.  After this, there never was a problem with it blowing away again.

 

This reminds me of the second half of Hebrews chapter six.  It speaks of the hope that we have in God and his promises.  God has demonstrated that he keeps his promises and wants us to trust that he does.  To demonstrate his reliability, he made a promise, a covenant, and even an oath.  He didn't have to because God does not lie.  But to assure us, he did so.  Then he demonstrated through the millennia that he is indeed keeps his word.

 

This gives us strong hope, which Hebrews 6:19 describes as an anchor that is sure and steadfast.  We can be assured with full confidence that God keeps his promises.  There is no need to let up, thinking that God will not come through.  We can take hold, or literally, "seize" the hope before us (Heb 6:18) through any of the winds that life sends our way.  These winds and storms beat against us in many different ways.  Sometimes it can be some sort of marginalization or even persecution due to the name of Christ.  It can also come from family members who reject your faith and you.  It can even come from brethren when they did not even mean to hurt you.  It can come from tragedy that doesn't make any sense.  Or in can come from sheer boredom with faith, ministry, and life in general.  Challenges come in many different ways.  Through any challenge, we need to be anchored in God and his faithful promises so we will not be blown away and become discouraged or give up.

 

God has promised among other things that he would give wisdom to those who ask (Jas 1:5), forgive us when we confess our sins (1 Jn 1:9), hear us when we ask anything according to his will (1 Jn 5:14), to give us the Spirit, our helper in weakness (Jn 7:39), to not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able (1 Cor 10:13), to be with us even through the end of the age (Mt 28:20).  There are many, many other promises the God has made to us, and he keeps them all.