Steadfast And Unmoveable

STEADFAST AND UNMOVEABLE

There is a story that goes like this:

Years ago, before the day when she was moth-balled and transformed into a floating museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, one of the largest, most powerful battleships that the world has ever known, the USS Missouri, was cruising off the coast of Nova Scotia in a gale wind blowing and whipping the waves into a frenzy. The great ship, nicknamed the “Mighty Mo”, commanded the seas wherever it would sail. Every ship that would approach her would quickly give way for no one would dare to challenge her 16” guns that were capable of firing a 2000 lb shell for over 20 miles with near pinpoint accuracy.

Long after dark the ocean would rise and fall as the gale winds continued. Then suddenly, dead ahead a light broke through the darkness. The alarm was sounded and the captain was called to the bridge. Surely this was just a passing freighter on its way to a safe harbor.

For an hour the captain tracked the movement of the light but it seemed to be heading straight for the Missouri, not moving even 1 degree to the left or right to avoid collision and getting ever closer in the darkness. Perhaps their radar had jammed, or perhaps they just simply had not seen the lights of the Missouri dead ahead.

The captain decided that it was prudent to send out a warning call to the approaching ship. “Approaching ship, turn 15 degrees south. You are on a collision course with USS Missouri.” The call was answered with this message. “USS Missouri. You are ordered to turn 45 degrees North. You are on a collision course.”

The captain of the Missouri became very angry. The very idea that anyone would challenge his right-of-way on the open seas was appalling to him. He sent out a second message, “Approaching vessel, this is the captain of Navy Vessel, BB11, USS Missouri. You are ordered to turn 15 degrees South and yield right of way.”

The answer came back, “US Navy vessel BB11, USS Missouri, this is the Seaman 1st Class on duty at the Nova Scotia Lighthouse. You are ordered to turn 45 degrees north.”

The captain of the great battleship, with “egg on his face”, quickly ordered the helm to turn 45 degrees north to avoid grounding his ship upon the rocks.

I’m sure that this story isn’t true. It never really happened. But it does serve to make a point for the message that I have for you.

We must never forget that there is but one steadfast and unmovable reference point for life and that is the Word of God. We must also remember that we are to be steadfast and unmovable in our commitment to obeying the Word of God.

The Book of Job says in chapter 14 and verse 1 that, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." Is there anyone here that give me an “AMEN” on that? Job was in the middle of experiencing the greatest trials of any man who ever lived, except for Jesus. With all of the things that were happening to him, I believe that he had learned this lesson the hard way.

Yet we see that Job never failed to believe in God. Oh yes there were times when he would grown weary of life. And who wouldn’t under his circumstances? Job had lost everything. His home was wrecked, his children were dead, his servants were gone, and most of his wealth had been destroyed or stolen. Even his health had left him and he felt as though he was left desolate.

In addition to that, as if that wasn’t enough, three of his “best friends” came along and sat down with him to take part in Job’s pity party. The pity party soon became a Job bashing party though, and that only made matters worse for him.

Job gives me a lot of hope. I have never seen the trials that Job had to face and I hope I never will. But I hope that if such trials were to be unleashed upon us that we would be found as steadfast and unmovable in our faith as Job was.

I just wanted to encourage you in this message to remain steadfast and unmovable in your faith in God. No matter what comes, God is still in control. No matter how hopeless your circumstances may seem; God is still in control. No matter how much the devil throws against you, you can always count on the Light of the World as your beacon of hope.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."