May 10th - Blessed Assurance

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