There is an old-fashioned word we don’t hear very often in everyday speech. But it is a word that I like. I like it because it describes something I can hold onto, something I can depend on. That word is steadfast.

According to Noah Webster, the word steadfast describes something or someone that is “Constant; firm; resolute; not fickle or wavering.” (Webster, 1828) Having something like that in my life helps me. It helps me find a calm, peaceful place in my mind and heart when the world around me seems to be constantly changing and uncertain. It helps me to remember what is important when everything around me seems to be urgently clamoring for my attention.

How about you? When you are living in the midst of uncertainty, when your life seems to be turned upside down, wouldn’t you like to have something steadfast to hold onto? Something to keep you from pulling out your hair and running around like a stressed-out crazy person?

For me, that something steadfast I can hold onto is a person. His name is Jesus.

There is an old hymn called, Christ the Solid Rock, written by Edward Mote in 1834. For me, the words of this hymn express how I feel: living in the midst of change and uncertainty, and yet, holding onto my steadfast Savior. Because I can trust Him, because I can lean on Him, I know my feet are on solid ground. Change may be swirling around me, but I stand secure because I know Jesus Christ does not change. And so I can lean on Him, and rest in Him, and find my peace and security in Him.

If you are in need of an anchor in the midst of the storms that are swirling around you in your life, consider Jesus…

Christ, the Solid Rock

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

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
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

 

Pastor Cindy

Note: Both Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language and Edward Mote’s hymn On Christ the Solid Rock are in the public domain.