“You should know…there will be very difficult times.” 2 Timothy 3:1
There are times that you can’t finish a thought for all the thinking.
There are times you can’t see what’s coming next for peering into all the possibilities.
There are days that string together in order but without purpose.
There is the waiting that cannot be rushed.
There are prayers that say “help” on the inhale and “Lord” on the exhale and repeat with each breath.
There are the details that go unnamed because God already knows them, and requests unbidden because the answers are too divine.
There are the days you know you need a savior, and anchor, a line of truth to wrap round your soul and keep you from falling off the ragged edge of uncertainty.
Those days you need more than a cup of good, strong coffee, more than money in the bank account, more than even a word of grace from a friend.
You need Jesus.
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There is a song we sung in my little Grace Brethren Church that’s been rolling around and repeating itself in my thoughts:
In times like these you need a Savior
In times like these you need an anchor
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock
This Rock is Jesus, Yes He’s the One
This Rock is Jesus, the only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock
This hymn was written and composed by Ruth Caye Jones, and was inspired by 2 Timothy 3:1 This know also that in the last days perilous times will come. It was heard and praised by George Beverly Shea, the vocalist in the Billy Graham Crusades, and he sang it many times.
The wife of a minister and mother of five children wrote this hymn, it was said, one afternoon when she felt the Holy Spirit come upon her. Ruth Caye Jones was lovingly known in her area as Mother Jones and this hymn composer died in Erie, Pennsylvania on August 18,1972, of cancer. (Source, Amazing Grace by Kenneth W. Osbeck Kregel Publications Grand Rapids Michigan)
I think Mother Jones knew that when the dross of this world is burned away, we will find ourselves with this one gleaming truth: Jesus is the Only One. We just don’t recognize that truth for what it is unless we are “in times like these”.
Jesus is the glorious gift bequeathed to us at his own death and the miraculous hope revealed in his resurrection. Yes, he’s the One.
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Are you facing “times like these”? Can I pray for you?
Are you grasping at straws, clinging to your own ideas or have you reached out and grasped hold of the anchor for your soul?
Linked with Jennifer, Shanda, and Heather and with KD at Painting Prose.
Alyssa Santos
