Christian, when you have to pass through times of difficulties, times of trial, times of pain, you can gaze toward that distant horizon believing and knowing that the struggles you are enduring now are not only deepening your longing for heaven but also seasoning heaven to make it even better, even sweeter, even more precious. For as the songwriters say, the calm will be the better for the storms that we endure.

There was no silence like the silence that descended over the trenches of Western Europe on the morning of November 11, 1918. At exactly 11 AM, an armistice came into effect that brought a halt to all fighting on land, sea, and air. Never had silence been better appreciated than when that silence marked the end of the four brutal years we now call the First World War. In its own way, the silence was a song that told of the cessation of hostilities and the dawning of peace.

Matt Boswell and Matt Papa once wrote a hymn about the beauty of stillness, of calmness, of peace. “Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor” is meant to comfort Christians in times of trial and suffering. Its lyrics tell about the fury of life’s storms when winds of doubt are blowing and sinking hopes are few. They tell about the tempests of temptation, the floods of unbelief, and the waves of death. Through it all they promise Christ as the sure and steady anchor and proclaim, that with God’s help, “I will hold fast to the anchor; / It shall never be removed.”

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