Assurance Forever

The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, though hail comes down on the forest, and the city is brought low in humiliation.
Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey. [Isaiah 32:17-20]

Bellanoch on the Crinan Canal, Argyll

These verses from Isaiah 32, leapt out when reading this morning, and immediately brought to mind the beautiful hymn Blessed Assurance, a version of which is linked below.

Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey seems to speak of having a generous and humble spirit, and seeking fruitfulness in our dealings with all we meet ... perhaps a poetic way of saying that you love one another.

Isaiah has always appealed for his great prophetic gift, but also for the powerful imagery he evokes; here his mention of the ox and the donkey - both beasts of burden; the ox also a sacrificial animal - swiftly gives a wonderful example of the nature of those whom The Lord deems blessed.

In His presence there is no doubt of His blessed assurance ...