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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Braden Mcalister says:
This shows that man needs to be loved
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This teaches me that God is and will be there for me so therefore I need to to live in the hope he gives me and love everyone since God is love
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I will love all people to Christ with my actions
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I will pray for joy and strength as I take on this new challenge
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Jesse Malina says:
Part of loving God is to accept that we are loved and to use that to love others. We are to use this love that flows from the cross and not only accept it but to let if overflow into our daily lives. And so when we know true love we know God. Because when we abide in love we abide in Him.
Let the love flow
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Isaac Jones says:
I will look to God for my understanding of love, not the dark rumblings of this world and media.
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Trying to find love apart from God is like trusting to walk around in the dark; the only thing you’re not likely to hit is the goal. If we want to understand love we have to understand God and how He interacts with us and vice versa. This shows me that the gospel and all of redemptive history teaches us about the love of God: true love.
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Love comes from God.
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Man can only love by the grace of God. As we know God more we understand love more.
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Dear God,
Teach me more about love and leadership as a man. May I submit and learn from you. I want to know you more and understand you. You show me what grace and mercy mean. When you forgive me and show patience as I sin against you then I see how to show patience then people hurt me. When you forgave me I learned how to forgive others. As you teach me you teach me how to teach others. As you have loved me by dying and coming along side me despite my unrighteousness, so I have learned to love others. You are wonderful and glorious Lord! Thank you for the cross; thank you for your love. May I and all the nations worship you; may I be a light glorifying you by my deeds with others. You are great and mighty, thank you; amen.
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Nathan Rutman says:
I will try to more regularly focus on the greatness of grace—that I a sinner have assurance of seeing God face-to-face.
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I am quick to forget the greatness of salvation that God has bought for me. So many times I fall short of “praising my savior all the day long.”
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God’s goodness through salvation is meant to follow me everywhere. It isn’t meant to be a component of life, but the lens which I interpret my life through.
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For God to help me resist finding happiness in anything other than the gospel: not comfort, nor food, nor productivity, nor rest.
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That nothing ever needs to be added to it to secure my everlasting joy—in this world and the next. If grace gives me happy assurance then grace is all I need.
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Matt Rouse says:
We must remind ourselves of the truth of the gospel. The truth that we have assurance in Christ not because of the good things we’ve done but because of who Jesus is! That is the only thing that will give us assurance. We tend to think that our works will bring about assurance when all they bring about is weariness and doubt! Resting in the FINISHED work of Christ is the only true source of deep soul peace.
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He wants us to delight in His salvation. Christianity is not a solemn list of rules for us to begrudgingly follow. It is a celebration of what Jesus did for us and the live that God has for us. Those are things that are final and eternal!
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The gospel is the only thing that brings about that deep soul peace! Jesus’ eternal finished work is the only thing we can find our identity in that will never change!
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Dallas t says:
Jesus Loves us 100% of the time
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Will Givens says:
He is my hope, my rock, and my assurance. He is unshakeable and unmoving. He is unwavering and unchanging, steadfast and solid.
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