Blessed Assurance
This week, our son Peter, asked an interesting question: How do you know that God is with you, if you can not see God? Kids say the darnedest things. Often, they ask the questions we have been holding or afraid to ask. Lest you think, my life is any different than yours. We were driving along on our way to Target, talking about what we intended to purchase for school supplies when four year old Peter posited his question: How do you know that God is with you, if you can not see God with your eyes?
Peter can see his trucks and dinosaurs. He can see his hot dogs and books. But you can not see God. How do you know that God is with you, when you can not see God with your own eyes? Peter wanted some assurance that he could hang onto in the same way that we can fix up the wheels on his trucks, that he know could God is with him. In fact, this is the question of theological significance behind the hymn, Blessed Assurance. Peter was looking for assurance that God is with him, even when he has wonderings. Just like all the rest of us.
Christian Copyright Licensing International, the organization from whom we purchase permission to play hymns and songs each, tracks music in churches and faith organizations all over the world. They recently released a top 25 hymns sung in churches. Blessed Assurance was in the top three! And it is no surprise. Since it was written 1873, Blessed Assurance has captured both the melodic and theological imagination of people everywhere. We all want that moment of knowing just like Peter, God is with us, even when we cannot see God. We are looking for the reassurance that we too, are filled with God’s goodness and lost in God’s love.
And Fanny Crosby, the hymnwriter of the 19th century, gave us language to put around that feeling! Fanny Crosby lost her eyesight through an eye infection at the age of six weeks old. She later reflected: “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.(1)” She lived her life proclaiming the wonderous God she knew. She attended New York Institute for the Blind, where she met her husband, Alexander, called Van, who was an organist. Together, the two made music.
Fanny spoke before the United States Congress multiple times including in 1843 as 23-year-old lobbying for education for the blind reading one of her one poems. She was not shy to use her voice in proclamation or exclamation. She wrote more than 8000 hymns and songs! Fanny wrote many patriotic songs during Civil War and was a friend to presidents, including Grover Cleveland. She wrote a poem for the occasion of the dedication of his birthplace in Caldwell, NJ.
Fanny ’s faith was the driving force in her life. Methodist by background, she spoke of the grace that she knew in her life and urged others to find the same peace. Multiple times, she was the speaker at Ocean Grove in the auditorium. After her only child, Frances, died of SIDS as an infant, Fanny threw herself into songwriting and mission. Aunt Fanny, as she was known, was a fixture serving others at rescue missions all over her hometown in New York City. From Door of Hope to Skid row, anywhere someone needed encouragement, she would speak. From abolition and poverty to temperance and encouragement in faith, Crosby would compose the lines and dictate them, putting them to music. Other times, musicians would play music to Crosby and ask for fitting words. This was the case for Blessed Assurance!
The story goes, one day, Fanny’s friend, musician Phoebe Knapp played the melody, and asked, “what does the tune say?”
Fanny replied immediately, “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine.” And the tune was soon written. The hymn was quickly a success. For a considerable time in her life, publishers had her under contract to write up to three new hymns a week. Fanny used over 200 pen names alongside her own. Publishers believed that people did not want to always see the same tune writer. (2)
Historians are still uncovering all of the hymns attributed to Fanny; however, it is clear that she taught and wrote with confidence on her faith. She could hear the notes that Phoebe played on that fateful date and be convinced that it was “Blessed Assurance” and that “Jesus is” indeed [hers]! She could confidently speak of blessed assurance for one hymn, because Fanny knew a life in which she lived dependent on God.
Reassurance is a reminder of that which we already know. We need assurance that we have made a correct turn when we are driving somewhere in the dark that we have only been once or twice. We need reassurance that we have made the correct decision when we held a boundary to respect ourselves instead of enabling someone else’s bad habits. We need reassurance when we have taken a step of faith that God is real and going to be with us!
The book of Hebrews was written for those of us who need reassurance. The writer of Hebrews, who wrote to the inner circle at Rome, was reminding and reassuring the faithful and devoted of what they knew. Faith is the assurance of things hope for, the conviction of things not seen! While this letter is written in the style of Paul, many contemporary scholars believe a disciple of Paul wrote the letter, possible Priscilla, to encourage and assure other apostles in their faith. (3) The stories of faith are recounted. Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others.
Blessed assurance, that’s what Abraham knew. Because he had it, all the rest of us can have it. He had it when God told him to leave everything he knew, and he didn’t know where he was going. He had it when God told him and his wife Sarah they were going to have children, when, huh, they no longer had the resources to procreate. Abraham had it. You know what it is? Faith. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
People of faith are not perfect. Christians are not in control. Christians don’t have all the answers. Christians are not better than other people. Christians are not folks that can give the perfect theological answer to every question. Christians are those who have learned, like Abraham, that God can be trusted. God can be trusted to bring assurance when life is at its rockiest. God can be trusted to take all that is difficult and transform it into something good. God can be trusted to empower you in the midst of trouble. God can be trusted to receive you when you die. God can be trusted!
Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual writer, received the greatest revelation about faith at, of all places, the circus! Nouwen went to see the German trapeze group “The Flying Rodleighs” perform. He was mesmerized by their breath-taking performance as they flew gracefully through the air. At the end of the show, he had the chance to speak with Rodleigh, the leader of the troupe. Nouwen asked how he was able to perform with such grace and ease so high in the air. Rodleigh responded, “The public might think that I am the great star of the trapeze, but the real star is Joe, my catcher…The secret is that the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. When I fly to Joe, I have simply to stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me. The worst thing the flyer can do is try to catch the catcher. I’m not supposed to catch Joe. It’s Joe’s task to catch me.(4)”
Our blessed assurance comes from knowing that God has caught us and will catch us. When trouble comes, so often we fumble and grab for God. We think if we do enough mental gymnastics or enough fanciful praying, we can somehow catch God. However, it is not job to catch God. It is God who catches us.
Peter, how do you know, that God is with you, even when you can not see him? You can feel God catch and lead you. The presence of the Holy Spirit is always with you. You believe in the sun when its not shining. Music is just one of the ways we can know God’s assurance and presence with us always. But in music, we are reminded of what we know about God:
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.
May you know blessed assurance as your story and song reflect the praise of God your savior!
This is the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
(1) “Fanny Crosby; America’s Hymn Queen”, Glimpses of Christian History, 198.
(2) Osbeck, Kenneth. 101 Hymn Stories: The Inspiring True Stories Behind 101 Favorite Hymns. 1982.
(3) Hoppin, Ruth. Priscilla’s Letter: Finding the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 2009.
(4)Nouwen, Henri J.M. The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1999. pp.195-196.
Old Testament Lesson: Hebrews 11:1-3
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
New Testament Lesson: Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, August 18~ Saturday, August 24
Sunday: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1. Pray for those in need of refuge, both physical shelter and a spiritual home.
Monday: “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult” Psalm 46: 2-3 Where have you known God to be present in your life even when it felt like everything around you was shaking and changing?
Tuesday: “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.’” Psalm 46: 10. Let these words be your prayer today. Be still, and know that I am God.
Wednesday: “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Psalm 46:11. Consider that the Lord is with you in all things. Never are you alone! Breathe in God’s presence. Breathe out your hesitations and concerns.
Thursday: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1. Pray for faith the size of a mustard seed and wait. Wait. Let God do the assurance.
Friday: “Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.” Hebrews 11:2. Ask an admired brother or sister in the faith about their assurance. Let them share their story. Listen to God speaking through someone else.
Saturday: “By faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible” Hebrews 11:3. Spend time in God’s world today. Let awe and wonder be your guide.