Years ago my family went on a houseboat trip on the Sacramento River. Being in the Navy as a young man, my dad seemed right at home steering the boat down through the lazy river.  But one morning as we were cruising along, the engine suddenly lost power. My dad tried everything he knew to start that engine up again, but to no avail. Bear in mind that my dad’s role on a huge Navy ship was not in the engine room, it was in communications, and he simply couldn’t fix it! So we drifted at the mercy of the current  further away from our destination. Finally, he was forced to take some action at the wheel.  In exasperation he shouted out the command, “Throw out the anchor!”

We frantically ran about the deck looking for the anchor. Finally, someone found the missing anchor and threw it in. It plunged into the murky water and sank to the bottom disappearing along with the rope that slipped silently after it. All should have been well enough but there was just one problem, someone had forgotten to tie the anchor to the boat. We drifted for a time until we ran aground and stopped on a shallow spot near the river bank.

Some of us are living our Christian life like our little house boat. We are lazily drifting down the river on a sunny day only to discover that the anchor we place our trust in has never been securely fastened. We may have been raised going to church every Sunday. We pick up the Bible to read a chapter now and then. We might even memorize verses of the Bible; that is good. But when push comes to shove, and life presents its challenges, we are left with an anchor that may never have been tied down in our hearts.

How do you use your Bible? Do you let the Word of God argue with you? Can it preach to you when you are sad? Does it stabilize you when you are facing a crisis?

For example, does the conversation among your friends start like this, “Have you heard the latest figures on the economy? Who knows if we may all have jobs next year! Did you hear so and so’s house is in foreclosure?” And then you begin to worry….and worry. But then, you say to yourself, now stop this worrying! This isn’t what God says I am to do. Jesus tells me not to be anxious. Luke Chapter 12 tells me to look at the birds and the flowers. God feeds and clothes them. My heavenly Father has His eye on the sparrow, and He knows my every need, big and small.  I must stop this fretting and trust in His love for me.

In order for us to have the Word of God dwelling in us richly, we must discipline ourselves to not only read and memorize it, though that is certainly where it must begin, but we must seek how we ought to apply it to our daily lives. This is a discipline of meditation and reflection. We have to not only taste the Word, we must chew on it, swallow it, and take it into the very fiber of our souls. Allow it to address all the areas of your life that concern you, warning, encouraging, comforting, and stabilizing.

Someone was once asked what they did with the promises of God.   Their answer was… I underline them in blue! That is a silly illustration, but I pray you know how to feed on the Scriptures…let Him speak to you!