Blessed Assurance
By Hal Lindsey
In times like these, every human institution feels insecure. Do you put your trust in government? Its failures mount by the day. We all depend on global supply lines. For instance, you or a loved one may depend on a certain medication. Is it made in China? Where will food prices go in the next few months or years? You have to eat. Where do you find peace in all that?
If you live on a fixed income and you drive a car, things may feel especially dicey right now. At the time of this writing, the average price for a gallon of gas in Los Angeles just rose to over $6 a gallon. What is the government’s answer? US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is an official representative of your government, and he has a simple answer. Buy an electric car.
His solution reminds me of something often attributed to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before their Revolution. When told that the peasants were starving for lack of bread, she supposedly answered, “Let them eat cake.”
Well sure. If there’s not enough bread, eat cake. If gas prices are too high, go buy an electric car. The average price of an electric car is about $60,000. But so what? Okay, there is a shortage of both new and used cars, but you might find one if you are willing to pay far enough above list price. The US electric grid is not capable of supplying the power needed to charge millions of new electric vehicles. But at least, you wouldn’t be in line at the gas station.
Security cannot be found in our human institutions. Education has shifted away from teaching literacy and basic math skills. Now they teach young people that they are so mentally and emotionally handicapped that they can only succeed if the government grants them success. But, as we have seen, government is not doing too well.
Entertainment has become mired in bitterness, revenge, and self-loathing. Industry is no longer about innovation and optimism, but about staying politically correct. Survival for them no longer means building great products. It means making sure the elites don’t get mad at you. You can’t trust money because there’s no guarantee of its continued value. The same is true of precious metals like gold and silver.
And so it goes. Economic, military, medical, psychological, and educational upheavals are shaking the institutions of this world to their core. They hold no guarantee of security!
But God remains. He does not change. He rules in love. He always keeps His promises. He never fails. Even your body will one day fail. But He will not. And if you are in Him, you stand eternally secure.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a blind woman named Frances Jane Crosby Alstyne shook the world with her pen. Better known as Fanny Crosby, she wrote well over 8,000 hymns and gospel songs. They include many favorites. But one stands out. The first line begins with the hymn’s two-word title, then adds three more words. “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” How could she say so much in five simple words?
Every generation faces uncertainties. But what the world now faces is unique in a hundred different ways. More than ever, we need to remember the blessed assurance found in Jesus. He is our Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4), our Redeemer (Isaiah 41:14, Titus 2:14), and our Creator (John 1:3). He is the Foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11), the Way (John 14:6), and the Door (John 10:9). He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 41:14). He is Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 17:14).
And in Him, you can have perfect peace no matter how great the storm. In all that you face, remember Him, His faithfulness, and His love. And then you will say with Fanny Crosby, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!”
