Beautiful mettle

They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; - Psalm 107:26a

You are at the mercy of a storm on the water. You have nothing solid to hang on to. Your strength is worthless. There is nothing to do but to ride out the storm and hope your anchor holds.

Some people use concrete anchors. Concrete is heavy and cheap. This is called a dead weight anchor and it has two weaknesses; First, concrete loses 43% of it’s weight in seawater so as soon as it’s dropped into the water it has less holding power. The second problem is design. Concrete anchors are just big blocks of weight and if you apply enough force to them, they will slide. So the best plan if you’re going to use concrete anchors is to use lots of them, big and heavy and ugly with rough edges and maybe pieces of steel embedded through them… and hope that it’s enough when the storm hits and hope you never have to pull them out again.

Mechanical anchors are the opposite of dead weight anchors. They are comparatively light and made of steel. The beauty of mechanical anchors is that what they don’t have in bulk they more than make up for in design. First of all steel is much more dense than concrete so a 1000kg steel mechanical anchor in seawater is equal to a 1500kg concrete block but the real value is in it’s design. It has a shovel and this shovel is designed to dig and the harder you pull on it the harder it digs. Like a shovel on a plow or even a kite in the air it grabs mud, sand, gravel even rock and digs in and won’t let go it just goes deeper into the seafloor. Each anchor, depending on it’s design and the bottom composition has a different rating usually 5-20 times it’s weight in holding power. This means the 1000kg anchor is now equal to a 7.5 – 30 metric tonne dead weight anchor.

Our faith needs to be like the mechanical anchor, when the wind and waves come they'll test our mettle and our faith.

Few have had their faith tested more than Daniel's friends...

Daniel 3:15-28

Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.

So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?"

They replied, "Certainly, O king."

He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."

Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!"

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

Money, power and technology, the heavy things we sometimes trust are useless. Whatever happens don't lose faith. God is there, good, bad whatever happens, dig in and trust Him.