A positive declaration intended to give confidence.
A Promise or pledge: guaranty; surety
Full Confidence, freedom from doubt, certainty.
Into separate parts; into pieces
Apart or widely separated
Tonight, these are the two words that are on my soul. Assurance and asunder.
Asunder because I received a letter from Jack, my ex-husband who is in prison.
Assurance because of a beautiful article I will share with you in a bit.
I’m fascinated that the two words start off sounding exactly alike. Yet the outcome of each word is vastly different.
Asunder: This is an older world, one we don’t hear of much anymore, except in very traditional marriage vows. We find it in scripture, in the King James Version:
Mark 10: 9: What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Asunder is not a positive word. It’s a hard word, often associated with divorce based on the verse above. Divorce is not God’s plan for marriage. With divorce comes much of the following:
- Shame
- A sense of failure
- Heartbreak
- The shattering of lives into pieces (But you can read my post HERE to see what God does with those pieces)
- A sense of lostness
- Church becomes one of the loneliest places to be
- Embarrassment
And the list could go on and on. In the wake of my divorce, even though I had Biblical grounds for it, I was devastated. I’d been torn asunder from my husband, whom I loved and cherished. Not only was my marriage torn asunder, my entire life was torn asunder. And the resulting casualties being my children, our church, our community. It was devastation equal to the tornadoes that have ripped through the midwest this week.
But……
In the path of that destruction, I’ve had to look for something solid, something grounded to hold on to. To put a stake in the ground and be able to say “I will stand fast in the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 3:8).
Oh, it’s not happened overnight. And there are still days that it paralyzes me–today being one of those days. When the depression wins and I practically hide in my bedroom, fighting off wave after wave of despair. But tonight, after a long day of fighting hard, God has granted me a gift: the reminder of the word “Assurance”. A word that sounds similar to asunder, but is oh, so different. So healing.
We see the use of the word “assurance” in the scripture Hebrews 10:22-23. I’ll add those verses below, but urge you to read all of Hebrews 10, to get the meaning in context:
When I am at my loneliest, O my soul, let me draw near to my God with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with a clean heart. Please God, let me hold fast–let me stand fast–on the confession of my hope without wavering, for You who promised is Faithful.
Do you see? My God is faithful. He will never be torn asunder from me, even though I don’t deserve his love, his forgiveness, his assurance. My marriage has disappeared. Dear friends have disappeared. My confidence in myself has disappeared. But not God. He grants assurance. He promised. He is faithful.
I read an article tonight that led me to write this post. I urge you to read it as well. It’s beautiful. It’s about the Broadway Play “The Trip to Bountiful” with Cicily Tyson. At one point, Cicly’s character breaks into song—Blessed Assurance–and night after night, the crowd stirs, then swells, then joins in singing these amazing words by Fanny J Crosby:
Blessed Assurance
Jesus is mine
O what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchased of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His Blood
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
Perfect submission, perfect delight
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
And so tonight, after a tough day, I think about my story and realize that this is a part of my story as well. Blessed Assurance. It is my story and my song. And in that very first verse, I can sing the gospel to myself, and I can remember that this assurance granted to me is a foretaste of the glory yet to come, when I go home. When we go home.
Divorced or not, single or married, young or old, God offers this assurance to you as well, through the death of Jesus for our sins, His resurrection and the sanctification of our souls. This is solid assurance. Certainty in the midst of this uncertain life.
You can read the great article about “The Trip to Bountiful” with an excerpt video of the audience and Miss Tyson singing “Blessed Assurance”. I dare say you’ll find yourself humming alone and thinking deeply about what those words, those beautiful words, mean to your soul.