God loves to give His children the gift of “the full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22. It is a precious thing, a source of deep peace and consolation, and He wants us to have it.
I was never more intuned to this until the pandemic happened. I saw fear take over so many people. From panic buying tothe knock-out fights in grocery stores, over someone wearing a mask or not. I was lectured to by family members because I chose not to get the experimental vaccine that everyone rushing to get. I chose to trust God.
Assurance is something that goes by repeated conflict, by our repeated experimental proof of the Lord’s power and goodness to save, when we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope, and been suddenly snatched from danger, and placed in safety. When these things have been repeated to us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply in the Word and power of God, beyond and against appearances, and this trust, when habitual and strong, bears the name of assurance.
God’s way of growing His sweet gift of assurance in us is by putting us through numerous and varied hardships. This process is designed to be hard. I think God was testing me through the pandemic. As if you say, “Will you trust that I will take care of you?”
Trials are the way that faith is proven, refined, and strengthened. As my family adhered to the government’s wishes and was vaccinated. I did not, yes I got covid, but I knew God would get me through it. My family got covid even though they were vaccinated. (imagine that).
James 1:2-3 writes,
“Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.”
Assurance grows through conflict, and assurance produces character which produces hope.
One of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 27 verse verse 1 says,
“The Lord is my light and my salvation, in whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.”
The pandemic exposed each of our weaknesses and exacerbated some. Confidence is a struggle for many people, and anxiety can erode away the confidence of even the most secure people. Psalms is a place I can go when I need more confidence or encouragement.
God is our light when we feel like darkness is closing around us.
One of the most peaceful, consoling fruits in the Bible is righteousness. And that the righteousness of God depends on faith. It’s a fruit that is realized “later” in increasing amounts.
We cannot have assurance until we have knowledge of the evil and deceitfulness of our hearts, which can be acquired only by painful, and repeated experiences.
There is a good example in Peter. Peter confidently promised Jesus that he would never deny Him only hours before He did. We don’t realize our sinful nature is how weak our faith is. We don’t know how proud and self-reliant we are. It is the fairy trials that apply heat to our faith and cause the chaff our unbelief in the form of doubt, fear, anxiety, anger, jealousy, bitterness, self-ambition, fear of man, and more to the to the surface. And when we see that chaff, we can fear that our faith may not be real.
But that’s what God wanted. When we sun in us and feel helpless to get rid of it on our own, it pushes us in preparation to trust Jesus’s work on the cross alone. When we see our numerous weaknesses and feel our helplessness to be strong on our own, it pushes us to search out and trust Jesus’s promises to us alone.
We can have no security from gifts, labors, services, or even past experiences, but that from first to last our only safety is in the power, compassion, and faithfulness of our great redeemer.
It is the various kinds of pressing, painful, exposing trials that teach us to trust in Jesus for everything and to really “live by faith in the Son of God” ( Galatians 2:20).
As God grows the full assurance of faith in us and causes the joyful, peaceful fruit of righteousness to grow in us through trials. He wants our faith to rest fully on Him -the Rock of Jesus, so that we rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9).
Isaac Newton said,
“We are never more safe, never have more reason to expect the Lord’s help, than when we are most sensible that we can do nothing without Him.”
From Pity to Praise 