By He Reads Truth
Frances Jean “Fanny” Crosby (1820-1915), an only child from Brewster, New York, was one of the most prolific hymn writers the world has ever seen, composing over 8,000 hymns, along with several books and over 1,000 poems. Because publishers in her day were often reluctant to publish a woman’s work, Fanny used more than 200 masculine pseudonyms over the course of her career.
Blind from an early age, Crosby saw the world through her mind’s eye. She would begin to compose a hymn in her head, and once she had it written on her memory, she would then recite it to her personal stenographer who would write it down for her. She often worked on 5 or 6 hymns at a time, each floating in its own corner of her imagination until she felt ready to let it out.
In describing her hymn-writing process, Crosby once said: “It may seem a little old-fashioned, always to begin one’s work with prayer, but I never undertake a hymn without first asking the good Lord to be my inspiration.” The hymn “Blessed Assurance” reveals that she did indeed believe her Lord to be good.
“Blessed Assurance” is an exploration of the wonder of what it means to walk presently in what Peter calls a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3). For Fanny Crosby, one thing this “living hope” means is that we have a reason, right now, to celebrate with the confidence to draw near to God, trusting that He will never cast us away. This hymn celebrates the goodness of being at ease in a confident and perfect love that casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
“Blessed Assurance” in unashamedly happy. Crosby uses words like foretaste, praising, delight, happy, goodness, and, of course, blessed to give the song its buoyancy. In a cynical world, a hymn like this is refreshing. Crosby isn’t offering Christians a false sense of optimism. She is articulating the sure and eternal benefits of the work of Christ given to the believer. “Blessed Assurance” invites us to “draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22).
For the blind hymn writer from New York, passages like 1 John 4:7-19, Hebrews 10:19-23, and 1 Peter 1:3-9 were cause for celebration, which is what this hymn sets out to do. The Christian’s hope for happiness and peace is not wishful thinking. It is based on what we have already been promised because of the finished work of Christ—a blessed assurance that Jesus is ours.
BLESSED ASSURANCE
Fanny Crosby, 1873
Blessed assurance; Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Refrain:
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]
For an added layer of worship during reading plan, we’ve created a Spotify playlist for Hymns V! You can find the complete HRT Hymns V Playlist here, or listen to the first track on the player below. Enjoy!
235 thoughts on "Blessed Assurance"
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Ryan says:
Asking the Lord to give my mouth words to sing that would clearly articulate who He is.
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Jordan Gaut says:
God is faithful to me, and is everything that I need in life. His love and his grace have given me assurance of salvation and assurance of peace in him, and in him there is no cause for fear or anxiety.
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Man’s heart is so prone to wander and to desire things that aren’t of God in order to satisfy a personal emptiness that is only filled with the presence of God. Man naturally wants to worry and fear and lean on his own understanding instead of coming to Christ and fully being perfected in his love.
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Jesus is So. Flipping. Amazing. The fact that we have an advocate in heaven who already paid the blood debt of our sin and who has interceded on our behalf is already good enough news. However, the fact that he wants us to find perfect peace and have full assurance of everything in him. That is a gospel of grace and love, and shows that the character of Christ is so quick to forgive and so merciful to sinners.
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I think I’m reminded that my own peace and my own assurance is not based on anything that I can do, but it is based entirely on what Jesus has already done at the cross. My response needs to look like me humbling myself in front of Christ, and allowing his peace to wash over me in my submission to him. I need to meditate on his love and grace, and stop trying to blaze my own path of assurance when he is the only way to truly experience heart changing peace and love.
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I’m gonna pray for the faithfulness in God to be changed into his image. I pray that I repent fully of these sins of pride and slander against God’s character, and that I will be able to rest assured of my life being held in the hands of my perfect and loving father
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Dean says:
forgiveness
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his blessed assurance
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his sin
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live
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earnestly
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Preston says:
He teaches us that He will always love us. And that we love Him because He loved first.
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God can use anyone to do anything.
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It teaches me that the Gospel needs to be shared with everyone.
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I will change the ways I love
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Deeper
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Andy says:
The hope of Jesus; His atoning sacrifice by death on a cross and His eternal action through his resurrection is secured for us to enjoy peace and prosperity here and now. We do not need to be concerned about what is next because our hope is in Jesus the king of all kings.
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I need to walk in the truth of my hope and salvation in Jesus. I must stay firm in my convictions and believe in God to refine me with His supernatural ability being made more and more like Jesus daily.
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In spite of my view on the relationship between God and I, He sees me as always as His son. A son who need not be concerned about his right standing with His father, as is the blessed assurance of mine; a GIFT from God. The assurance of salvation is I have claimed through confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour of my life is the only requirement for salvation. However, this is also true that God is doing a great work in me, through the sanctification. The process of being made Holy. To create in me a passion for His name and a Holy discipline to live as a disciple and a disciple maker.
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In our wrestling and in our doubts of faith, man, can be certain of their hope by reminding ourselves of the truth of the word of God. That as we seek for consistent and constant feedback on our belief in Jesus in our hearts, in those sceptic moments we can feed ourselves with truth in song through the reminder that we have a blessed assurance that Jesus is mine.
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