May 10th, 2017 - Thoughts for your Week
Scripture: Isaiah 43: 1-3
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Wen you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."
Blessed Assurance
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!Heir of salvation, purchase of God,Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.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.
- Lyrics by Frances J. Crosby
Just recently I had an experience where I believe God was
testing me to see if I’ve learned what He’s been teaching me these past few
months; to trust Him no matter what. Easily said, not easily done.
Back up to last week; I came upon a story that Thomas Goodwin
told as an illustration of assurance…
I watched a father and son walking down the road. The father
picked up the son, held him and kissed him. As I watched him then set his son
back down on his feet, it occurred to me that this picking up and setting down
of the son did not change the truth of the son. He was still the son; whether
in his father’s arms or not. The son was just as much his son when he was
standing by the father, or even running from him. But his experience of being a
son was better, more nurturing, when the father held and kissed him. Assurance
is like being held and kissed; our experience of our salvation (relationship
with God) is sweeter. But we are still assured of our salvation even when we
don’t experience this, whether we feel it or not.
Fast forward to this week and things are not going as
smoothly as I’d like them to. I’m standing at the fork in the road where I have
to choose “do I believe He will help me even when it doesn’t feel like He will?”
or “do I go it alone and try to work it out myself?” And then I was reminded of
that story by Thomas Goodwin; reminded that even though I can’t see Him at
work, it doesn’t mean He isn’t at work, and challenged with ‘will I trust Him no
matter what?
When I think back on that experience, I
realize how quick I am to trust my feelings and forget my inheritance as a
child of God. Sometimes it’s hard to really comprehend the blessed
assurance, security, and freedom we have in Him. It’s hard to believe just how
precious we are to Him but we are
His children. When life is not going the way we want it to, when our health is
failing, when we are hurting deeply, it’s easy to lose sight of what is true.
But what if we held on tight to what the bible tells us;
“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and
co-heirs with Christ”
(Romans 8:17). And if we are children of God, can we believe that through ALL
things we can trust Him, whether he’s picking us up or setting us down? Can we
challenge ourselves to believe this and hold onto it even when we don’t feel it?
Blessed assurance. Is this your story? Is this your song? Can you praise your
Savior all the day long – no matter what?
But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am
convinced that he is able to guard until that
day what has been entrusted to
me.
2 Timothy 1:2
