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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Matthew Parkolap says:
I loved Crosbys practice of praying before her work and asking the Lord to be her inspiration. I want to practice that.
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Lord, be my inspiration today. Whether in work, play, or any other activity may my joy peace and love flow from you
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Ryan Schwaar says:
We have such an unreal blessing. We have a God who loves us UNCONDITIONALLY and ETERNALLY. He is never going to turn us away or give us more than we can handle, and we should freely rejoice in that good news.
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Live joyfully and thankfully! I don’t want to take this life for granted, and I really want to be known BY MY LOVE as a Christian who has received a gift that is FREE for everyone. I want that kind of influence, not for me, but for the kingdom and the church.
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God is so much more than a leader and commander and creator. He is a loving and redeeming and joyous father who, in addition to demanding respect and obedience, wants us to be happy and to delight in the fact that he will never ever stop loving us or turn us away.
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It is the truth that details the Father’s incredible love for His children.
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I will pray that my heart will overflow for Christ and ceaselessly love on other people, regardless of my mood.
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Kraymer Lorig says:
We are loved. Perfectly and relentlessly.
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It teaches me that God wants us to find joy. It teaches me to find happiness in the life that I have right now because I am living eternally already with Christ Jesus. God has changed my life, Jesus has died for my sins, and I can live blamelessly in Him who gives me my strength. Not only do I live each day to glorify God, but I live each day in expectation that God will do something great through me. I am trying to do the will of the Lord every day. Do I fall short sometimes? Of course I do, but that doesn’t change the fact that God has offered me perfect love since before I was born! God’s love is so amazing. “Perfect submission all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blessed, watching and waiting looking above, filled with His goodness lost in His love.”
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Find blessings and be overflowing with joy at every blessing God offers! Do not be picky about how God blesses you, but be at peace knowing the Lord of the universe is madly in love with you and wants you to be madly in love with him too.
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The gospel is a beautiful example and representation of what love means. There are so many different ways of telling the story of God, yet only one Bible! The Bible is the story of God and the story of His love for us!
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I pray that the Lord’s will be done in my life each and every day. I pray that I can find peace in troubled times as well as joyful times. I pray for guidance and strength to get through the week. And I pray that my relationships would grow stronger through Christ who is my strength.
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Andrew says:
This teaches to me about the Gospel that without Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we’d have no reason to celebrate and be joyous. But because of what He’s done for us and is doing in our hearts, we have a reason and a mission of celebration! Jesus has won and He can not be defeated. In Him, we begin to truly live. That is the Gospel.
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This teaches to me about man that we are afraid to let go and let God take control sometimes. We are scared He may reject us or that if we give up all that we have He won’t give us something even better, though He will.
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It teaches me how even though we don’t deserve it, we can be happy and celebrate because He has paid our ransom and He has won. Living in Christ we should not be afraid to be happy and enjoy life and we should not be afraid to commit to Him in fear of rejection because He will never reject us when we go to Him.
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I will choose to be joyful through out my days. I have no reason not to celebrate and let others see the love that God has given everyone if they choose to believe it and accept it. I will try my best to be a light and let God shine through me so that all people see is His love.
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Joel Selby says:
I will fix my eyes on Jesus and hope in him. I will grow in peace and joy because every day I will strive to make sure my calling and election in Christ. I will hold fast to the good news that sin and death no long have a hold over me.
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It is the nature of God to want reconciliation with His creation. He wants us, while on this earth, to stand firm in the hope we have in His promises of salvation.
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Man was not made to trust in the things of this world; he was made to hope in God alone.
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The good news is that we have a risen savior to hope in; Jesus put sin to death on the cross, so that we who are in Him have nothing more to fear and nothing more to master us. So we have hope while we’re on this earth.
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