Among my favorite hymns is one penned by Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915) entitled “Blessed Assurance”. She wrote over 8,000 hymn texts during her lifetime despite the fact that she had lost her sight at the age of six weeks. She actually began writing hymns at the age of six years old and continued through her long life. Despite what some would call a handicap or disability, Fanny Crosby’s life was filled with not only academic success at the New York Academy for the Blind where she was a student and later a teacher of rhetoric and history, but she also found joy in her faith which she so readily expressed in her hymns.
In the first verse the words are: “Blessed 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.”
There is comfort when we have the assurance of our salvation, for, indeed we have been bought with the price of Christ’s blood. We are heirs with Christ, and in this hymn we see a glimpse of heaven. There is an anticipation of that day when we will be with Him in “perfect submission” and “perfect delight”, and though she was physically blind, she described “visions of rapture now burst on my sight” as she thinks about the beauty of heaven. This is encouragement for all Christians as we await the return of our Lord.
There are times when we allow the burdens of this fallen world system overwhelm us. Responsibilities at work and home at times seem insurmountable and we tend to forget that we are citizens of God’s Kingdom that will never end. Revelations 21:4 reminds us that when we come into His Kingdom we shall live in perfect relationship with our King: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Who is not looking forward to that day?
Certainly, there must have been times when Fanny Crosby felt the weight of her disability, but she didn’t let it stop her from living a full productive life. Instead she turned to the Lord and expressed her continual praise through the hymns she wrote as we are commanded to do in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I will say rejoice.” Peace of heart and mind come to those who put their faith and focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are hidden in Him, and as His bride, He will one day present us without spot wrinkle or blemish (Ephesians 5:27). This is our future, our Blessed Hope and should dispel all the anxiety that comes with an ever changing culture that denies God’s rule and reign.
Like Fanny Crosby, let us affirm the words in stanza three when life brings us discouragement or despair:
“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.”
When we focus on our Lord and seek to tell others about Him, we can be at rest even in this turbulent world. We have “blessed assurance” that He is coming again and that we belong to Him. Selah!
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