Dr. Dan Hayden •
The ability to stay steady when everything around you is topsy-turvy is a great quality of life. Sometimes the the winds of life are against you, but did you know that you can sail against the wind? Sailors call it tacking.
I’m not a sailor, but I’ve been sailing with people who are. I was on Lake Superior out of Bayfield, Wisconsin on a two-mast ketch, and we were making our way through the Apostle Islands. We were tacking against the wind – back and forth in a zig-zag pattern. Now the way this works, I discovered, is that as the wind whips around the front of the sail, it creates a vacuum on the back of the sail that actually pulls you forward against the wind. The idea is to keep it steady, on an angle to the wind.
“Staying steady” is very important when you are tacking against the wind. Staying steady in a prayerful attitude with the Lord is also very important in difficult times. Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee.” The word stayed is a Hebrew verb that means to lean on, to lay hold of, to stay steady. The idea is that your mind is leaning on the Lord so that you remain steady in the adverse wind.
So, how about you? Are you facing some hardship – some financial difficulty, some relationship problem? Let me encourage you today to stay steady. Let that vacuum in your life pull you toward God. Trust Him and keep your mind on the Lord in a prayerful attitude and thank Him that He is in it with you.
Hey, “Don’t panic!” Just tack and stay steady, with your mind on the Lord.