If you listen carefully to the Bible, you will hear two very different voices rising from the pages of its saints.
One voice trembles under the weight of trial: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” (Psalm 42:5). The other voice sings with confidence: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).
These two voices do not cancel each other out. Rather, they exist together in the same heart, sometimes on the same day. The Christian’s life is a paradox of groaning and rejoicing, of weakness and confidence. He is assaulted by temptations, accusations, afflictions, and feelings of abandonment. Yet he is at the same time upheld by unbreakable promises, sealed by the Spirit, and given a hope that is as sure as Christ Himself.
The world cannot understand this paradox. To outsiders, faith that admits doubt seems inconsistent. Yet the Scripture insists this is the very nature of Christian pilgrimage. The believer is both a soldier under fire and a child held fast in the Father’s hand. He is both afflicted and assured, both trembling and triumphant.
This article will explore the contrast between the spiritual trials of the believer and the assurance of salvation that Scripture promises. Our goal is not to exaggerate either side but to see how they fit together in God’s providence. By doing so, we will discover how trial humbles us, how assurance comforts us, and how both direct us to Christ as our all-sufficient Savior.
Perfect — let’s continue with Section 2: The Reality of Spiritual Trials, expanding into the four great categories of testing that believers endure.
Section 2. The Reality of Spiritual Trials
The Bible makes it clear that every true believer will endure spiritual trials. These are not occasional oddities; they are woven into the very pattern of Christian life. Jesus Himself declared, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Notice that the tribulation is certain, while the cheer rests not in circumstances but in Christ’s victory.
Paul goes further: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). Spiritual trial is not the exception for the faithful but the expectation. Let us consider the four chief forms in which these trials usually come: temptation, accusation, affliction, and the sense of desertion.
1. Temptation – The Fire of Desire
Temptation is perhaps the most constant of all trials. James tells us plainly, “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:14). Temptation operates both externally, through Satan’s darts and the world’s enticements, and internally, through the lingering corruption of the flesh.
Think of Joseph in Egypt, resisting the advances of Potiphar’s wife. Or think of David on the rooftop, gazing at Bathsheba. Both were tempted; one fled, the other fell. Temptation is a battlefield where Satan assaults desire, often at moments of weariness or isolation.
For the believer, temptation can be disorienting. “If I am a child of God,” he reasons, “why am I drawn to such sin?” The trial lies not only in the external lure but in the internal conflict, as Paul lamented: “The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:19). The Christian feels himself a walking contradiction, assaulted daily by the allure of sin.
2. Accusation – The Voice of Condemnation
If temptation whispers, “Do this,” accusation shouts afterward, “God will never forgive you.” Satan is called “the accuser of our brethren” (Revelation 12:10). His aim is to strip the believer of assurance, paralyzing him in guilt.
Consider Job’s story. Satan accused him before God of serving only for reward: “Doth Job fear God for nought?” (Job 1:9). Or think of Joshua the high priest in Zechariah 3, standing in filthy garments while Satan stood at his right hand to resist him. The accuser points to real sins, seeking to drown the conscience in despair.
Every believer knows this voice: “You prayed poorly today. You sinned again in that same way. Surely God is weary of you.” The trial of accusation is bitter, for it strikes at the heart of faith—our standing before God.
3. Affliction – The Pressure of Circumstances
Beyond inner temptation and accusation, believers also endure external afflictions. Peter writes, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you” (1 Peter 4:12). Illness, loss, poverty, persecution—these afflictions buffet the saints.
Job endured the loss of children, wealth, and health. Paul catalogued his hardships: beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, hunger, and cold (2 Corinthians 11:23–27). Affliction presses on the spirit, tempting believers to doubt God’s goodness or to envy the prosperity of the wicked. Psalm 73 vividly records Asaph’s struggle: he nearly slipped when he saw the ungodly flourishing while he was plagued daily.
Affliction, then, is not merely physical pain; it is the spiritual wrestling that follows: “Has God forgotten me? Has He turned against me?”
4. Desertion – The Sense of God’s Absence
Perhaps the sharpest trial of all is the sense of divine desertion. David cried, “Why hidest thou thy face from me?” (Psalm 88:14). Christ Himself experienced this on the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).
This trial is not that God truly abandons His people—for He has promised never to leave them (Hebrews 13:5)—but that He withdraws the felt sense of His presence. The believer still has God’s favor, but he no longer feels it. Prayer seems to bounce off the ceiling. The Bible feels dry. Worship feels hollow.
Such seasons are deeply painful. John of the Cross famously called them “the dark night of the soul.” The Christian fears he has lost God’s smile forever. Yet even this is a trial permitted for a purpose: to teach faith to walk by promise, not by sight, and to increase hunger for renewed communion.
Summary
The reality of spiritual trials is undeniable: temptation entices, accusation condemns, affliction burdens, and desertion terrifies. Together they form the believer’s pilgrimage through a fallen world. These trials strip away self-confidence, drive the soul to seek refuge in Christ, and prepare the way for assurance to be treasured more deeply when it shines.
Excellent — let’s move into Section 3: The Scriptural Witness to Trials. This will be one of the largest portions, because the Bible gives us a rich gallery of saints under pressure.
Section 3. The Scriptural Witness to Trials
The Bible does not hide the sufferings of God’s people. In fact, it highlights them, almost as if to remind us that trial is normal, not exceptional. Far from discouraging us, these examples anchor us: “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
Let us walk through a series of biblical portraits, each of whom testifies to the reality of spiritual trials.
Job: The Archetype of Suffering
Few figures in Scripture embody trial more fully than Job. He was described as “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). Yet within a short span, Satan’s assaults stripped him of wealth, children, health, and reputation.
Job’s trial came in waves:
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Affliction: Loss of possessions and loved ones.
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Accusation: His friends insisted his suffering proved hidden sin.
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Desertion: He felt God had turned into an enemy: “The arrows of the Almighty are within me” (Job 6:4).
Yet Job clung by faith: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). His testimony shows that the fiercest assaults do not sever faith, because God Himself upholds it. Job also reveals that even when saints complain, question, and groan, they remain within the covenant care of God.
David: The Singer of Lament
David’s psalms often oscillate between agony and assurance. In Psalm 13 he cries, “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” That is the voice of desertion. Yet by the end of the same psalm he affirms, “But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.”
This movement—from anguish to confidence—is repeated throughout the Psalter. Psalm 42 captures it perfectly: the soul cast down and disquieted, yet exhorted to hope in God. Psalm 73 portrays envy of the wicked, shaken faith, and then renewed vision when entering God’s sanctuary.
David teaches us that spiritual trial is not inconsistent with being a man after God’s own heart. Rather, the believer’s honesty before God in trial is itself part of true faith.
Elijah: The Prophet’s Despair
In 1 Kings 18, Elijah stood boldly against the prophets of Baal. Fire fell from heaven, the people cried out, and Baal’s prophets were slain. Yet in the next chapter, when Jezebel threatened his life, Elijah fled into the wilderness and prayed, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life” (1 Kings 19:4).
How quickly triumph gave way to despair! Elijah felt utterly alone: “I, even I only, am left” (v. 10). Here is the trial of isolation and hopelessness. Yet God answered not with rebuke but with a whisper, reminding Elijah that seven thousand had not bowed to Baal. Elijah’s experience shows how prophets can sink low, and how God restores gently.
Jeremiah: The Weeping Prophet
Jeremiah’s ministry was marked by rejection and sorrow. He lamented, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife” (Jeremiah 15:10). He even cursed the day of his birth (Jeremiah 20:14–18). Here is the raw voice of spiritual trial: despair, confusion, and complaint.
Yet Jeremiah also spoke words of assurance: “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him” (Lamentations 3:24). His book of laments swings between grief and hope, reflecting the believer’s inner war.
Peter: Sifted as Wheat
In Luke 22:31, Jesus warned Peter: “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” The trial came swiftly—Peter denied his Lord three times. Here was temptation, fear, and failure. Yet Jesus had also said: “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (v. 32).
Peter wept bitterly, but he was restored. His story shows that spiritual trial may end in temporary collapse, yet never in final ruin. Christ’s intercession guarantees recovery.
Paul: Pressed Beyond Strength
Paul, though the great apostle, was no stranger to trial. He confessed, “We were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8). He bore a “thorn in the flesh,” a messenger of Satan to buffet him (2 Corinthians 12:7). He faced hunger, beatings, shipwrecks, and imprisonments.
Yet Paul learned that “when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). His trials became occasions for God’s power to shine. Thus Paul testifies that suffering is not a mark of God’s absence but of His strengthening grace.
Christ: The Man of Sorrows
At the center of all Scripture stands Christ, who endured the fiercest trial. In the wilderness He faced Satan’s temptations. In Gethsemane He prayed in agony, sweating blood. On the cross He endured dereliction: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Yet Christ triumphed where all others faltered. His trial secured our salvation. Because He was tempted, He is able to help the tempted (Hebrews 2:18). Because He was forsaken, we never truly are.
Summary
The witness of Job, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, and Christ Himself makes one point clear: spiritual trial is the common lot of the saints. Each endured temptation, accusation, affliction, or desertion. Each cried in weakness. Yet each, upheld by God, bore testimony that faith survives the furnace.
The scriptural witness, therefore, silences the notion that true believers never doubt, never struggle, or never falter. Instead, it assures us that our trials place us in the company of the saints, and more importantly, in the footsteps of Christ Himself.
Section 4. Blessed Assurance in Scripture
If Section 2 and 3 highlighted the storm, Section 4 now anchors us in the harbor. The believer’s trials are real, but so too is the believer’s assurance. The Bible never leaves the saint adrift in lament. It binds up the wounds of the afflicted by setting their eyes upon the certainty of salvation.
The phrase “blessed assurance” may remind us of the beloved hymn, but its roots run deep into Scripture itself. Let us consider four great pillars on which assurance rests: the covenant promises of God, the finished work of Christ, the sealing of the Spirit, and the perseverance of the saints.
1. The Covenant Promises of God
At the foundation of assurance lies God’s unchanging word. His promises are not subject to fluctuation. Numbers 23:19 declares: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it?”
The covenant with Abraham illustrates this beautifully. In Genesis 15, God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep while He Himself passed between the divided pieces, signifying that He alone bore responsibility for fulfilling the covenant. Paul interprets this in Hebrews 6:17–18: “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.”
This strong consolation—that God’s covenant rests on His character, not ours—is the bedrock of assurance. Trials may shake the saint’s feelings, but they cannot alter God’s oath.
2. The Finished Work of Christ
Assurance also rests upon the completed work of Jesus Christ. At the cross, He declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Redemption is not a project left half-done. Hebrews 10:14 assures us: “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
The believer’s confidence lies not in the strength of his faith but in the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice. Satan accuses, pointing to sins. The conscience trembles. Yet Paul thunders: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again” (Romans 8:33–34).
Assurance, then, is Christ-centered. The believer does not look inward to gauge the warmth of his feelings but outward to the cross and empty tomb. As the hymn says, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
3. The Sealing of the Spirit
Beyond the objective promises of God and the finished work of Christ, assurance also has a subjective dimension: the witness of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:16 teaches, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
This witness is not a mystical voice apart from Scripture but the Spirit illuminating the Word, producing fruit, and stirring filial affection toward God. Galatians 4:6 says, “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” When a believer, in trial, still finds himself crying out “Father,” that itself is evidence of the Spirit’s presence.
Paul calls the Spirit a seal and down payment: “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:13–14). The Spirit’s indwelling is God’s pledge that the inheritance will surely come.
4. The Perseverance of the Saints
Finally, assurance rests on God’s preserving power. Jesus promises, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:27–28).
The believer perseveres because God preserves. Peter blesses God who “hath begotten us again unto a lively hope… to an inheritance incorruptible… reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:3–5).
Trials may bend faith, but they cannot break it. Affliction may strip away comforts, but it cannot sever union with Christ. As Paul exults: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers… shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).
Summary
Blessed assurance is not wishful thinking. It is the settled confidence that salvation rests on God’s covenant, Christ’s cross, the Spirit’s seal, and the Father’s preserving power. While spiritual trials cause believers to feel shaken, these pillars guarantee they can never be finally overthrown.
The contrast is sharp: trials speak of weakness, but assurance speaks of divine strength. Trials are variable, but assurance is rooted in the unchanging God.
Wonderful — let’s keep pressing forward. Here comes Section 5: How Trials and Assurance Interact, where we bring the two themes together.
Section 5. How Trials and Assurance Interact
So far we have traced two seemingly opposite realities: the believer’s ongoing trials and the believer’s secure assurance. One voice cries in distress, the other sings in confidence. Yet these are not contradictions; they are complements. God, in His wisdom, weaves them together so that His people are both humbled and comforted, both tested and strengthened.
Let’s explore how trials and assurance interact in the Christian life.
1. Assurance Hidden in Trials
The first interaction is paradoxical: assurance is often hidden precisely when trials are strongest. When David felt abandoned in Psalm 13, he could not see God’s face. When Job sat in ashes, he groaned that God treated him as an enemy. When Jeremiah lamented, he felt cut off from hope.
Yet in all these cases, the very fact that the believer cried to God in trial was itself a sign of grace. The unregenerate man does not lament the absence of God; he does not thirst for His presence. The thirst of desertion is itself a mark of true sonship.
Thus, when assurance seems absent, faith is often operating at its deepest. The believer may say, “I cannot feel God,” and yet that very groan proves the Spirit’s work within.
2. Assurance Tested and Refined
Trials not only hide assurance; they refine it. Peter writes, “The trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).
Gold is purified in a furnace, its dross burned away. Likewise, faith is refined in affliction. Before the trial, assurance may have rested partly on outward comforts. After the trial, assurance rests more purely on Christ alone.
For example, when Job lost all, he could say, “I know that my redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25). That assurance was not theoretical but forged in suffering. Similarly, Paul’s thorn in the flesh taught him that Christ’s grace is sufficient, leading him to glory in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).
Trials therefore deepen assurance by stripping away self-confidence and rooting the believer more firmly in Christ.
3. The Paradox of Faith: Doubting Self, Clinging to Christ
Another way trials and assurance interact is in producing the paradox of true faith. The believer learns to distrust himself more while clinging to Christ more firmly. Paul captures this paradox in 2 Corinthians 1:9: “We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.”
Spiritual trial exposes the bankruptcy of self-reliance. The believer discovers he cannot stand in his own strength. But this very weakness magnifies the sufficiency of Christ. As the hymn says: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.”
Thus assurance does not mean confidence in self but confidence in Christ. Trials are the furnace that burns away false confidences, leaving the soul resting on the one foundation that cannot be shaken.
4. Assurance as Comfort in Ongoing Trials
Finally, assurance functions as a comfort during trials. Even when feelings fluctuate, the objective truths remain. The believer may say with Paul, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair” (2 Corinthians 4:8).
This balance is possible because assurance reminds the saint:
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No trial is random; it comes through the hand of a loving Father (Hebrews 12:6).
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No trial is permanent; it is light and momentary compared with eternal glory (2 Corinthians 4:17).
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No trial is victorious; Christ has overcome the world (John 16:33).
Thus assurance transforms the experience of trial. The storm still rages, but the anchor holds. The believer still weeps, but not as those who have no hope.
Summary
Trials and assurance are not enemies but companions. Trials humble, strip, and refine; assurance comforts, anchors, and sustains. Together they drive the believer away from self and deeper into Christ. One voice cries, “I am weak”; the other answers, “But He is strong.”
Excellent — let’s move into Section 6: Voices from Church History. This will not only bring us over the 5,000-word threshold but also enrich the article by showing how believers through the ages have experienced the same interplay of trial and assurance.
Section 6. Voices from Church History
The Bible is not the only witness to the believer’s paradox of trial and assurance. Church history supplies a chorus of saints who walked through the same valleys and sang the same songs of confidence. Their words remind us that our struggles are not unique, but part of the shared heritage of God’s people across centuries.
Augustine: “Our Hearts Are Restless”
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) confessed in his Confessions, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds rest in thee.” Here is the voice of trial—restlessness, longing, dissatisfaction with all earthly comforts. Yet it is also the seed of assurance, for that restlessness points toward God as the only true home.
Augustine battled doubts, temptations, and accusations of conscience. He wrestled with lust, ambition, and despair. Yet he anchored assurance in God’s sovereign grace, declaring, “My weight is my love; by it I am carried whithersoever I am carried.” He knew that only divine love could uphold him.
Luther: The Anfechtungen
Martin Luther (1483–1546) often spoke of his Anfechtungen—a German word encompassing trials, temptations, depressions, and spiritual assaults. He described nights of terror when the devil accused him, magnifying his sins until he despaired of salvation.
But Luther found assurance not by looking within but by looking to Christ. His famous cry was, “When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: ‘I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is, there I shall be also.’”
For Luther, trial and assurance collided, and assurance won—because it rested on Christ alone.
The Puritans: Assurance as Rare and Precious
The Puritans, often caricatured as gloomy, actually wrote extensively about assurance. They distinguished between the reality of salvation (which all true believers possess) and the sense of assurance (which may vary).
Thomas Brooks, in Heaven on Earth, called assurance “the believer’s heaven on this side of heaven.” Yet he admitted many saints live long in doubt before attaining it. Richard Sibbes spoke tenderly of the “bruised reed,” assuring weak believers that Christ does not break them but heals them. John Owen warned that neglect of sin weakens assurance, while communion with God strengthens it.
For the Puritans, trial was expected; assurance was a pearl to be sought and cherished. They saw both as instruments by which God humbled and comforted His people.
Hymns of Assurance Amid Trials
Christian hymnody also bears witness. Frances J. Crosby, blind from infancy, wrote:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Here is radiant confidence, penned by one who lived with lifelong trial.
Horatio Spafford, after losing his children at sea, wrote:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Out of the darkest affliction came the brightest assurance. These hymns show how the paradox of Christian life finds expression in song: lament mingled with confidence, tears mixed with praise.
Summary
From Augustine’s restlessness to Luther’s assaults, from Puritan treatises to hymns of assurance, history echoes Scripture: believers are pressed but preserved, shaken but secured. The saints of old faced the same trials we face today, and they bore the same testimony: Christ is enough.
Perfect — let’s bring this home with Section 7: Pastoral Application and Section 8: Conclusion.
Section 7. Pastoral Application
The contrast between spiritual trial and blessed assurance is not merely academic; it shapes the daily walk of believers and the ministry of the church. If we stop with theology, we miss the comfort Scripture intends. Let us consider three applications:
1. For Those in Trial
If you are in the midst of temptation, accusation, affliction, or desertion, remember: you are not alone. Job, David, Jeremiah, Peter, and Paul all walked the same valley. Even Christ, the sinless Son, endured the darkest night of the soul.
Your trials do not mean you are abandoned. Rather, they are evidence that you belong to God. Hebrews 12:6 says, “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” The very weight of trial is a fatherly discipline, not a sign of rejection.
Do not interpret the silence of God as the absence of God. His hiddenness tests faith, but His covenant never fails. Continue crying out. Even groans are prayers the Spirit translates (Romans 8:26).
2. For Those Enjoying Assurance
If you stand in a season of strong assurance, give thanks—but do not grow careless. Assurance is a gift, and it must be guarded. Paul warns, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
Use your assurance not for presumption but for service. Strengthen the weak. Comfort the afflicted. Remind others of the promises that presently warm your own heart. As Christ told Peter, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32).
3. For the Ministry of the Church
The church must be a place where both voices are welcomed—the cry of trial and the song of assurance. Too often, Christians are made to feel guilty for doubt or weakness. Yet Scripture shows us that even saints groan. The church must provide space for lament as well as praise.
At the same time, the church must faithfully hold forth the promises of God. Trials are not the end of the story; assurance is. Ministers and fellow believers must direct the weary back to Christ’s finished work, the Spirit’s witness, and the Father’s preserving power.
In this way, the community of faith becomes a living testimony: some weep, some rejoice, all are upheld by the same Savior.
Section 8. Conclusion – The Storm and the Anchor
The Christian life is a voyage through stormy seas. At times the waves of temptation, accusation, affliction, and desertion rise high. The believer feels small, battered, and near sinking. Yet beneath the vessel lies an anchor that holds firm: God’s covenant promises, Christ’s finished work, the Spirit’s seal, and the Father’s preserving love.
Spiritual trials remind us we are weak; blessed assurance reminds us Christ is strong. Trials humble; assurance comforts. Together they keep us dependent on the Savior, longing for the day when faith will give way to sight, when tears will be wiped away, and when assurance will no longer be a doctrine but an eternal experience.
Until then, the believer lives with two voices: the lament, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” and the song, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” Both belong to the pilgrim path. Both lead us home.
“For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).
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