Blessed Assurance

June 18, 2023 Cameron Frank

History

“Blessed Assurance” is another hymn of the faith written by the great Fanny Crosby. In 1873, Fanny was visiting her dear friend and frequent collaborator, Phoebe Knapp, when Phoebe sat down at her piano and played a melody that she had recently composed. After playing it through a couple of times, she paused and asked Fanny what the melody spoke to her. Fanny immediately answered, “Blessed assurance; Jesus is mine!” She then drew upon her extensive knowledge of Scripture and shared an idea for the rest of the first stanza. The two friends took the rest of the afternoon and composed the rest of the hymn together.

The hymn was first published later in 1873 in the magazine that Phoebe edited with her husband Joseph Knapp, called Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany. The hymn received a significant boost on the world’s stage in 1887, when Ira Sankey included it in his Gospel Songs No. 5 collection. Sankey added the song to a regular rotation for the revivals he led with Dwight Moody throughout Great Britain and the United States.

Fanny’s story is inspiring for several reasons: the hymn composer blind from infancy, writer of thousands of hymns, humanitarian and philanthropist, and so on. Her father died when she was just six months old, and her mother was forced to work long hours away from the home. Fanny’s grandmother had a strong faith and conviction to see her family brought up rightly. She devoted her time and energy, almost without ceasing, to reading the Bible to Fanny and taught her to memorize long portions of the sacred text.

Before long, the young Fanny Crosby would have large passages of Scripture memorized, including the Gospels, many psalms, and much of the Old Testament. She could draw upon this deep well of biblical knowledge when composing her hymns, even able to compose on the fly as with “Blessed Assurance”. Because of her incredible memory and devotion, she was able to seamlessly weave together inspirations from passages in Philippians and Hebrews to compose a reminder of the hope we have in Christ and the assurance of things to come.

Devotion

2 Corinthians 5:7 is a popular verse. You’ve undoubtedly heard it before: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” For Fanny Crosby, that verse became a literal lifestyle, as she lived with incredible faith and devotion, but was still blind. Yet even in this hymn, she uses vivid detail and describes what it will be like to look upon glory. She describes visions of glory bursting in her sight and looking above to the glory of God. It’s hard for me to think of a better example of faith than a woman blind from infancy anticipating looking upon her Savior’s face: the first face she will ever see.

That hope and assurance are what our faith is all about. We are the heir of salvation purchased by God through the sacrifice of a perfect Savior in Christ. Our hope is not in anything that we can offer or bring to this relationship, but entirely based on the love and security of Jesus.

Without the Son, there is no blessed assurance or hope in things to come. And without the Holy Spirit transforming us and making us more like Jesus every day, we can never be wholly sure of our hope. So how do we get there? How do we rest completely in the hope we have, even when we can’t see it?

When Scripture reminds us of the assurance of things to come and the hope of heaven, it often brings it back to our relationships with others. In Philippians, when Paul is sharing that it would be a great gain to leave this world and join the Savior in eternity, he says that he isn’t ready for that yet, because there is still ministry work to do with others. He is so sure of his future hope that he wants to do everything he can to help others find that assurance. In Hebrews 10, we see a similar lesson. The author spends a few verses affirming the hope we have through Christ and then closes the section with a command to encourage one another and live in gospel community together. Even in the story of this hymn: Fanny Crosby didn’t compose the words in isolation, but it came together through collaboration with her close friend.

Grace-filled, gospel-centered community is what God designed us for. We each have a story, and our faith is bolstered and encouraged when we share it with others. And the beautiful part about intimate community is that we get to continue writing our stories with those we love. Just as the chorus of this hymn proclaims, “This is my story, this is my song.”

Are you truly satisfied with the assurance that you have in Christ? Do you have a story of transformation that is worth singing about? Share your story and your life in biblical community and be reminded daily of the sanctifying assurance in the hope of glory that you have through the blood of Jesus.

Related Scripture

Philippians 1:19-26, Hebrews 10:19-25