by Max Lucado
“It’s all right,” God’s eyes said. “I’ve seen the storms and it’s still all right.”
The centurion’s convictions began to flow together like rivers. “This was no carpenter,” he spoke under his breath. “This was no peasant. This was no normal man.”
He stood and looked around at the rocks that had fallen and the sky that had blackened. He turned and stared at the soldiers as they stared at Jesus with frozen faces. He turned and watched as the eyes of Jesus lifted and looked toward home. He listened as the parched lips parted and the swollen tongue spoke for the last time.
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”2
Had the centurion not said it, the soldiers would have. Had the centurion not said it, the rocks would have—as would have the angels, the stars, even the demons. But he did say it. It fell to a nameless foreigner to state what they all knew.
“Surely this man was the Son of God.”3
Six hours on one Friday. Six hours that jut up on the plain of human history like Mount Everest in a desert. Six hours that have been deciphered, dissected, and debated for two thousand years.
What do these six hours signify? They claim to be the door in time through which eternity entered man’s darkest caverns. They mark the moments that the Navigator descended into the deepest waters to leave anchor points for his followers.
What does that Friday mean?
For the life blackened with failure, that Friday means forgiveness.
For the heart scarred with futility, that Friday means purpose.
And for the soul looking into this side of the tunnel of death, that Friday means deliverance.
Six hours. One Friday.
What do you do with those six hours on that Friday?
STUDY GUIDE
ANCHORING DEEP
A MESSAGE FROM MAX
Do you know many people who have intentionally turned their backs on God and stomped away in anger? Neither do I. Do you know many people who gradually lost their faith over an extended period of time? So do I.
Few abandon the faith out of anger at God or disbelief in the Scripture. If you vacate your church pew, you probably won’t do so overnight. It will be a subtle, casual abandonment. Read these words from Hebrews and see how one writer describes the process: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1).
What is the danger that faces any person attempting to stay spiritually afloat? Drifting. Getting off course. Aimlessly floating. A directionless meander that leaves you in uncharted and unfamiliar waters.
If you lose your faith, you will probably do so gradually. In tiny increments you will get spiritually sloppy. You will let a few days slip by without consulting your compass. Your sails will go untrimmed. Your rigging will go unprepared. And worst of all, you will forget to anchor your boat. And, before you know it, you’ll be bouncing from wave to wave in stormy seas.
And unless you anchor deep, you could go down.
How do you anchor deep? Look at the verse again.
“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard. . . .”
Stability in the storm comes not from seeking a new message but from understanding an old one. The most reliable anchor points are not recent discoveries, but are time-tested truths that have held their ground against the winds of change. Truths like:
My life is not futile.
My failures are not fatal.
My death is not final.
Attach your soul to these boulders and no wave is big enough to wash you under.
My prayer is that Six Hours One Friday has been a tool to help you anchor to these rocks.
The following study guide will help you even more. It is ideal for personal devotional time, small group study, or classroom exploration. The guide invites you to reexamine each chapter of the book on three levels.
LEVEL ONE: MIND ANCHORS. This first part gleans crucial quotes from the chapter and invites you to reexamine them by answering some probing questions.
LEVEL TWO: SOUL ANCHORS. This section uses parallel scriptures to reinforce and clarify the thrust of the chapter.
LEVEL THREE: LIFE ANCHORS. Here is where you take the message home. Want to keep from drifting? Spend some time meditating over the exercises in this section.
I am deeply indebted to Steve Halliday and Liz Heaney for their work on this study guide.
One final word. Don’t be content to depend on someone else’s anchor points. Don’t settle for a faith inherited from your family or borrowed from your friends. Their help is important and their teaching is vital, but you never know when you’ll have to face a hurricane alone. So be sure that your heart is safely secured. Take the advice of the sailor, “Anchor deep, say a prayer, and hold on!”
CHAPTER 1
HURRICANE WARNINGS
MIND ANCHORS
1. Anchor points. Firm rocks sunk deeply in a solid foundation. Not casual opinions or negotiable hypotheses, but ironclad undeniables that will keep you afloat. How strong are yours?
A. Why are anchor points necessary in developing a strong life of faith? What happens if you don’t have them?
B. What anchor points can you identify in your own life? How strong are they?
2. Three anchor points were planted firmly in bedrock two thousand years ago by a carpenter who claimed to be the Christ. And it was all done in the course of a single day. A single Friday. All done during six hours, one Friday.
A. What does it mean that these anchor points were “planted firmly in bedrock”? What gives them such strength?
B. What set apart these six hours from any other six hours in history? Why is it remarkable that Jesus’ work was accomplished in such a short time?
3. There is one stone to which you should tie. It’s large. It’s round. And it’s heavy. It blocked the door of a grave. It wasn’t big enough, though. The tomb it sealed was the tomb of a transient. He only went in to prove he could come out.
A. In what sense was Jesus a “transient”? What Scripture verses can you think of that would say this in another way?
B. Why was it necessary for Jesus to “prove he could come out” of the tomb? Why leave evidence?
4. To the casual observer the six hours are mundane. . . . But to the handful of awestruck witnesses the most maddening of miracles is occurring. God is on a cross. The Creator of the universe is being executed. . . . And there is no one to save him, for he is sacrificing himself.
A. How is the crucifixion of Jesus a “miracle”? What thoughts do you imagine went through Jesus’ mind during his ordeal?
B. Why is it significant that Jesus sacrificed himself? How does your answer make you feel?
SOUL ANCHORS
READ HEBREWS 12:2–13.
A. According to verses 2–3, what should Christians do to avoid growing weary or losing heart in the face of personal hurricanes? In what practical ways can this advice help you?
B. How do we sometimes “make light of” hardships or “lose heart” because of them? What use does God sometimes make of these hardships, according to verse 6?
C. What is an ultimate purpose of God in allowing “hurricanes” into our lives, according to verse 10?
D. How do we feel about these hardships, according to verse 11? Does it help to know that God understands how we feel about this? Why?
E. According to verse 11, what kind of people reap the benefits of such difficult experiences?
F. What connection is there between verse 12 and verses 2–3? What anchor points are mentioned in this passage?
LIFE ANCHORS
A. On a clean sheet of paper write down five of your personal anchor points. Put this list in a safe, accessible place and reread it when hurricanes blow into your life.
B. Think of the last time you went through a personal hurricane. How did you react? Did you rely on any anchor points? If not, why not? If so, which ones?
C. What do you think wer
e Jesus’ anchor points when he walked on this earth? Which ones do you think he relied upon while he spent those six hours on the cross?
D. Take five minutes to thank God for providing firm anchor points for your faith. If you haven’t been relying on these anchor points as you should, confess it and ask the Lord to help you the next time a hurricane blows your way.
CHAPTER 2
GOD’S FORMULA FOR FATIGUE
MIND ANCHORS
1. You are tired. You are weary. Weary of being slapped by the waves of broken dreams. Weary of being stepped on and run over in the endless marathon to the top. Weary of trusting in someone only to have that trust returned in an envelope with no return address.
A. Have you ever felt this way? If so, explain. If not, think of someone you know who has felt this way. What caused such feelings?
2. Is it worth it? When I get what I want, will it be worth the price I paid? Perhaps those were the thoughts of a San Antonio lawyer I read about recently. Apparently his success wasn’t enough. One day, he came home, took a gun out of his vault, climbed into a sleeping bag, and took his life. His note to his bride read, “It’s not that I don’t love you, it’s just that I’m tired and I want to rest.”
A. In what ways can weariness distort one’s thinking?
B. Do you think this lawyer achieved what he was after? Why?
3. Jesus was the only man to walk God’s earth who claimed to have an answer for man’s burdens. “Come to me,” he invited them. My prayer is that you, too, will find rest. And that you will sleep like a baby.
A. Many groups today claim to have an answer for man’s problems. How is Jesus’ answer different from theirs?
B. Describe this answer that Jesus claimed to have for man’s burdens. How do you evaluate his answer?
C. Does this wish for “sleeping like a baby” mean that believers are shielded from situations that rob them of sleep? Explain.
SOUL ANCHORS
READ MATTHEW 11:28–29.
A. What kind of people does Jesus invite to come to him? What does he promise them?
B. The phrase “take my yoke upon you” is unfamiliar to many of us today. Read what William Hendriksen had to say about it and then answer the questions that follow:
In Jewish literature a “yoke” represents the sum total of obligations which, according to the teaching of the rabbis, a person must take upon himself. . . . Because of their misinterpretation, alteration, and augmentation of God’s holy law, the yoke which Israel’s teachers placed upon the shoulders of the people was that of a totally unwarranted legalism. It was the system of teaching that stressed salvation by means of strict obedience to a host of rules and regulations. Now here in 11:29 Jesus places his own teaching over against that to which the people had become accustomed. When he says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” . . . he means, “Accept my teaching, namely, that a person is saved by means of simple trust in me. . . .” Symbolically speaking, Jesus here assures the oppressed persons whom he addresses, both then and now, that his yoke, that is, the one he urges them to wear, is kindly, and his burden, that is, that which he requires of us, is light. What he is really saying, therefore, is that simple trust in him and obedience to his commands out of gratitude for the salvation already imparted by him is delightful. It brings peace and joy. The person who lives this kind of life is no longer a slave. He has become free.1
What “yokes” are you carrying today? How does Jesus suggest you can shed them?
READ HEBREWS 4:1–11.
C. How does a person enjoy the rest of God?
D. How did some people in the past fail to enjoy this rest?
E. What is the link between the rest mentioned in Matthew 11:28–29 and that in Hebrews 4:1–11?
LIFE ANCHORS
A. Do you believe you normally enjoy the rest Jesus provides? Why or why not? What things keep you from enjoying it?
B. If it’s your desire to enjoy Jesus’ offer of rest, but you’re not sure what to do, begin with these three things:
1. Reread chapter two, “God’s Formula for Fatigue.”
2. Read once more Matthew 11:28–29 and Hebrews 4:1–11.
3. Sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil and write out specific steps you find in these two sources which describe how to enjoy God’s rest.
C. Keep a personal journal for one week, each day recording any events which keep you from enjoying the rest of Jesus. At the end of the week, do two things:
1. Pray about each of those events, asking God for his help in enjoying his rest. Be sure to thank him for those times when you did enjoy his rest.
2. Analyze the events, looking for clues which might indicate how you got off track.
CHAPTER 3
TWO TOMBSTONES
MIND ANCHORS
1. “Sleeps, but rests not. Loved, but was loved not. Tried to please, but pleased not. Died as she lived—alone.”
A. What for you is the most chilling phrase in this epitaph? Why?
B. If you were to write an epitaph for yourself that expresses your current lot in life, what would it say?
2. How many people will die in the loneliness in which they are living? The homeless in Atlanta. The happy-hour hopper in L.A. A bag lady in Miami. The preacher in Nashville. Any person who doubts whether the world needs him. Any person who is convinced that no one really cares.
A. How do you identify people living in loneliness? What characterizes them outwardly?
B. What lonely people do you know?
C. Have you ever fit any of the descriptions in this passage? Which one(s)?
3. The woman asked the question that revealed the gaping hole in her soul. “Where is God? My people say he is on the mountain. Your people say he is in Jerusalem. I don’t know where he is.”
A. Have you ever met someone who was asking these kinds of questions? What did you tell him or her?
B. Have you ever asked these questions yourself? If so, what prompted the questions?
4. Barbara’s difficult home life had left her afraid and insecure. While the other children talked, she sat. While the others sang, she was silent. While the others giggled, she was quiet. Always present. Always listening. Always speechless.
Until the day Joy gave a class on heaven. Joy talked about seeing God. She talked about tearless eyes and deathless lives. Barbara listened with hunger. Then she raised her hand. “Mrs. Joy?”
“Yes, Barbara?”
“Is heaven for girls like me?”
A. Describe the emotional impact this story has on you. Why is Barbara’s question so poignant?
B. What do you think caused Barbara to ask such a question?
C. If you had been Joy, how would you have answered Barbara’s question?
SOUL ANCHORS
READ JOHN 4:4–42.
A. Jews of Jesus’ day avoided passing through Samaria at all costs, even taking long detours to bypass the area. Yet John 4:4 says Jesus “had” to go though Samaria. Why do you think he “had” to do so?
B. How did Jesus use his own needs as tools for evangelism (vv. 6–15)? What can we learn from this?
C. What is the “living water” Jesus talks about in verse 10? What does it do?
D. What kind of people does God seek to worship him (vv. 23–24)? Could this Samaritan woman qualify? Do you?
E. How did Jesus use his own needs as tools for teaching (vv. 31–38)? What can we learn from this?
F. How did the woman’s report about Jesus affect the people of her town (vv. 39–42)? Taking into account her background (vv. 17–18), why is this remarkable?
G. Identify the single greatest lesson you have learned from this story.
LIFE ANCHORS
A. Sit down with a close friend or your spouse and write out what gives your life purpose and meaning. Be specific. The next time you are overwhelmed by the rising tides of futility, take out that list and read it.
B. Do you know any Grace Llewellen Smiths? What can you do to help
make them feel more significant? Why not do it today?
CHAPTER 4
LIVING PROOF
MIND ANCHORS
1. One step into the classroom and the cat of curiosity pounced on Jenna. And I walked away. I gave my daughter up. Not much. And not as much as I will have to in the future. But I gave her up as much as I could today.
A. In what other ways will Jenna (or your boy or girl) have to be given up in the future?
B. Does it help to know that all this “giving up” doesn’t have to be done at once? Why?
2. I gave up my child fully aware that were she to need me, I would be at her side in a heartbeat. You, God, said good-bye to your Son fully aware that when he would need you the most, when his cry of despair would roar through the heavens, you would sit in silence. The angels, though positioned, would hear no command from you. Your Son, though in anguish, would feel no comfort from your hands.
A. Why did God give up his Son so completely?
B. Imagine, if you can, what it might have been like in heaven’s throne room while Christ suffered on the cross. What is the mood of the angels surrounding God? Somber? Sad? Happy? Angry? Confused?
3. Before the day was over, I sat in silence a second time. This time not beside my daughter but before my Father. This time not sad over what I had to give but grateful for what I’d already received—living proof that God does care.