Blessèd Assurance

Blessèd Assurance was written in 1873, but not in the way we usually think of hymns as being written. Fanny Crosby, who was blind from the age of six weeks, wrote the hymn in response to the music played by Phoebe P. Knapp, a friend of hers. After listening to Mrs. Knapp play the tune a few times on the piano, the music spoke the words, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine," and thus this famous and much-beloved hymn was written. The tune is now called simply Assurance.

This hymn is one of my favorites. It is simple, yet profound; it is short, yet it encompasses the enormity of life's experiences; it is soft, yet it is unbelievably forceful. This is not the story of my accomplishments, nor the story of my strength or abilities. This is the story of who I am because of what Christ did on the cross. Left to my own strength, I am a wretch incapable of escaping the bondage of sin. I believe that we each have our "thorn in the flesh" to keep us from becoming prideful (2 Cor. 12:7). God has given me incredible abilities and intelligence, and it is easy to become conceited and rely on my own strength. But every time that I do, I fail. I am so grateful for God's overwhelming grace.

How then should I respond? I know the answer to that question with a mere moment's thought: Praising my savior, all the day long! The appropriate response to the overwhelming grace of God is to submit myself to Him and praise him all the day long. In submission to Him, I find rest and peace for my soul. I find His power which is made perfect in my weakness. I find that He reminds me of his mercies which are new every morning. I find that I am filled with His goodness such that it pours through me into other people. I find that I am lost in the wonderful love of my Savior. And yet so often I fail to do that. So often I fail to submit to the One who has saved me.

How can I avoid this trap? How can I stay "lost in His love"? On my own, I cannot. That is why God did not create us to walk alone. God has surrounded me with such amazing people. The friends that He has given me to keep me accountable, to encourage me when I am forgetful, to reproach me when I do wrong, to forgive me when I hurt them, and to embrace me when I am mournful, are among His greatest mercies to me. These friends love me in the fullest sense of the word. Love is not an emotion. Love, "agape," is the intentional and willing self-sacrifice to meet another's needs without condition and without expectation of return. My friends do not love me because I bring them joy or because I am useful to them, though I hope that both are true. My friends love me for the same reason that I love them, because He first loved us. O what a foretaste of the glory that awaits us.

This hymn is simple because the message of the gospel is simple. The gospel is proclaimed in the first verse: We are all sinners in need of a Savior, and that Savior has shed his blood to wash us clean and bring us new birth in His image as heirs of salvation and co-heirs of the Kingdom with Him. What a remarkably profound message captured in four lines of text:

Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Refrain

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Refrain

(Public Domain)