We must not lose hope. Hope is an anchor to the souls of men.

“We must not lose hope. Hope is an anchor to the souls of men. Satan would have us cast away that anchor.” Thus spoke Ezra Taft Benson, a man of deep faith and steadfast spirit, whose words ring across generations as both a warning and a promise. His voice, shaped by the trials of war, famine, and spiritual struggle, reminds us that hope is not a mere emotion—it is a weapon of the spirit, a sacred force that keeps humanity from drifting into despair. He names hope as an anchor, and indeed, it is the anchor of the soul: the unseen weight that keeps us steady when the storms of life rage and the winds of doubt howl across the sea of our hearts.

The origin of these words lies in the wisdom of both scripture and experience. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul spoke of “hope as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.” Ezra Taft Benson, as a leader and prophet within his faith, drew upon that same truth but gave it new urgency for modern times. He saw that in an age of fear and cynicism—when faith was mocked and meaning seemed fleeting—the enemy of all light would whisper into human hearts, “Give up, there is no hope.” To cast away that anchor, he warns, is to surrender the soul to drift aimlessly, carried by every current of despair.

For Benson, hope was not blind optimism, but divine trust. It is the assurance that beyond pain, there is purpose; beyond darkness, there is dawn. Hope does not deny the storm—it endures it. It is born not in comfort, but in crisis. That is why he calls it an anchor, not a feather. The feather is light and fleeting—it dances with every wind—but the anchor holds fast in the deep, unseen places of the heart. The person who clings to hope stands firm while others are swept away. To lose hope is to unmoor oneself from the eternal and drift toward destruction.

Consider, O listener, the example of Viktor Frankl, a man imprisoned in the death camps of Nazi Germany. Surrounded by horror and despair, he saw that those who lost hope perished quickly, not because their bodies failed, but because their spirits did. Yet those who kept even the smallest flame of hope—the hope of reunion, of purpose, of divine order—could endure the unimaginable. Frankl later wrote that “everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” This truth is the same that Ezra Taft Benson proclaimed: hope is the soul’s refusal to surrender, its quiet defiance against evil.

Benson warns that “Satan would have us cast away that anchor.” He speaks not only of a being, but of a force—the spirit of hopelessness that seeps into hearts and whispers lies: “You are alone. You are broken. You cannot be redeemed.” These are the voices that destroy nations, families, and souls. Despair is the devil’s masterpiece, for when hope dies, action ceases, faith fades, and love grows cold. It is not by accident that every tyrant seeks to extinguish hope in the hearts of the oppressed; for a hopeful people cannot be enslaved. Hope is rebellion against darkness itself—it is the cry of the soul that says, “I will not yield.”

The anchor of hope, however, must be tended. It is not enough to merely believe; one must choose hope daily, even when sight and reason offer none. To nurture hope, we must surround ourselves with truth, gratitude, and compassion. We must speak words that strengthen rather than weaken, and look for light even in the smallest things—the smile of a child, the turning of seasons, the rising of the sun. In every act of kindness, every prayer uttered in faith, we tighten the rope that binds us to that sacred anchor.

And so, my friends, take this wisdom to heart: do not cast away your anchor. When the waters grow rough and fear tempts you to despair, remember that hope is not weakness—it is strength, born of faith in the unseen. Let your soul cling to it as a sailor clings to his ship in the storm. For even if the waves rise high, the anchor holds. The one who keeps hope keeps courage, and the one who keeps courage keeps life. As Ezra Taft Benson teaches, hope is the holy bond between man and heaven—the quiet assurance that no storm lasts forever, and that in the end, the light always returns.

Therefore, guard your hope as you would your life. Feed it through prayer, through love, through gratitude. When darkness falls, whisper to your own heart: “My anchor still holds.” For hope is not the denial of sorrow—it is the refusal to be destroyed by it. And in that refusal lies victory—the triumph of the soul that, though tested, never drifts away from the divine shore.