God's Blessed Assurance

"Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

“Be strong, do not fear!

Here is your God.

He will come with vengeance,

with terrible recompense.

He will come and save you.”

(From Isaiah 35.4-7)

"Blessed Assurance", by Fannie J Crosby, is one of my favorite hymns.

Fanny, visiting her friend Phoebe, who was having a pipe organ installed, played a newly composed melody on the piano.

Phoebe asked Fanny, "What do you think the tune says?", Fanny replied, "Blessed assurance; Jesus is mine."

Because of Fanny’s words, the tune is now called "Blessed Assurance".

Aren’t there times when we all need a “blessed assurance?”

That was certainly true for the exiles returning to a promised, yet unfinished Jerusalem.

To picture a restored Jerusalem, the Lord sent Isaiah who wrote an oracle of salvation, “words of assurance”, to the exiles needing a vision of hope.

The vision is a transformed land from a desert to a fertile Way of Holiness leading to seeing the glory of the Lord.

Along this Way, the Lord removes all obstacles: the blind shall see, the deaf shall hear, the mute shall sing, and the lame shall leap.

This Way of Holiness will have streams, pools, and springs for the thirsty.

These visions of hope, these “blessed assurances”, allow people to accept God’s invitation to return home.

Isaiah’s oracle of salvation, “words of assurance”, says we’ll be safe traveling the Way of Holy living.

When things seem bleak or overwhelming, following the Way of Holiness through streams of living water leads us to joyfully singing in the Lord’s glory.