2008-08-26 10:33:00
"Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:22).
Fanny Crosby is surely one of the most prolific hymn writers in the history of the church. I am sure most of our readers regardless of language, nationality or even musical taste have sung her hymns. In fact this past Sunday morning we sang I am Thine O Lord, one of her many well-known hymns. Other hymns you may recognize are All the Way My Savior Leads Me, Close to Thee, To God be The Glory, Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior, and so many others still sung in many churches.
Yesterday we stopped along I-95 in Bridgeport, Connecticut at the Mountain Grove Cemetery where Fanny Crosby is buried. The cemetery was designed by the famous circus founder PT Barnum. His monument is very near that of Fanny Crosby's.
On a small, very weathered stone at the foot of the grave that we assume to be the original tombstone we read these words, "Aunt Fanny...She hath done what she could." Although blinded shortly after her birth she faithfully served the Lord. She overcame her disability to leave a lasting impact for Christ. She once shared this remarkable outlook, "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."
Her main tombstone, which Brooksyne is standing beside in the photo above, has the words to one of her best known hymns,
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of the Spirit, washed in His blood."
The message from this hymn text is one that is such a blessing to hide deep in our hearts; a musical expression of praise and glory to God for His work of salvation in our lives. Crosby writes about the assurance Christ gives us of His redemptive work in our lives here on earth and a foretaste of the glorious rejoicing that will take place through all eternity.
What a great blessing this assurance is. Assurance, not a commonly used word apart from theology, comes from the word assure which in turn comes from the word, sure. It speaks of the certainty of our salvation.
In today's text from the book of Hebrews we read a wonderful phrase, the "full assurance of faith." This is surely a sound Biblical basis for Fanny Crosby's song. It's one of the greatest blessings of life to have a full assurance of faith. May the Lord fill your heart with blessed assurance today.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father, as heirs of Your salvation, we have been purchased with the sacrificial blood of Your precious Son, Jesus. He gave His all that we might be saved from the eternal consequences of sin and have our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We have the blessed assurance that we are redeemed from sin and saved for eternity in heaven. Thank You for such wondrous love and abundant provision on our behalf. Amen.
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