Blessed Assurance

Blessed Assurance (performed by The Isaacs *acapella*) ----> a link to the song...words originally by Fanny J. Crosby and music by Phoebe P. Knapp (1873)

Blessed Assurance....when I think of this song I picture my traditional baptist church and the senior choir singing. Most of my life I never knew what this song meant but I knew I liked it. My favorite part was the chorus when it gets particularly high and I belt aloud in my most proper soprano head voice..."THIS IS MY STOOOOOORY, THIS IS MY SONG, PRAISING MY SAAAVIOR ALL THE DAY LONG. THIS IS MY STOOOOORY THIS IS MY SONG, PRAISING MY SAVIOR, ALL THE DAY LONG." Funny as a child you learn a song in church and you sing it because you heard it in church but you never REALLY have a keen understanding of what's being said...well, actually, some adults do too ;-) It wasn't until my choir sung this song earlier this month that curiousity hit. What does this pretty song mean? That's when I began my research.....

My first question began with the title of the song. After several hours of internet research and a whole lotta Bible page turning, I had nothing but a comparison between INsurance and ASsurance which says the term insurance refers to providing cover for an event that might happen while assurance is the provision of cover for an event that is certain to happen. AFLAC (with the duck) offers assurance coverage.


That was a little help. Ok Jennifer, let's get a little more detailed...so I went to the lyrics:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,
O what a foretaste...FORETASTE?! What's a foretaste???? According to the dictionary, a foretaste is something like preview. A lil sample, ya know? Moving on...
Of glory divine,
Heir of salvation,
Purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit,
Washed in His blood

After examining the first verse, I still had nothing. It was late, so I went to sleep. I didn't come back to the research for a couple days but the chorus that I love so much rang out through my head all week. THEN it hit me...

This song is a personal testimony. The author says "Jesus is mine..." Blessed assurance is presented as the gift of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. The gift of assurance is a certainty that concerns your relationship with God. Hebrews 10:22 says "let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith..." In other words, there is blessed assurance in knowing that Jesus is ours and we are His. Now that's something AFLAC can't offer! :-) Amen.