Desire for Assurance (Psalm 35:3)

There are many situations in life where the words of this verse could be used. In the immediate context, the psalmist is concerned about a prolonged and severe attack he was experiencing from his enemies, and if we read through the psalm we can see different ways in which they were attacking him. He had no idea how long the attacks would be allowed by God, but he knew that he needed something from God to help him cope with the situation. The help that he required was internal, in his soul.

The obvious aspect of his petition is that he knew that God could provide this form of help. How did he know this was the case? I would say that there are three answers to this question. First, he knew this was the case from the promises of divine help given in the Bible. Second, he knew that others had received this kind of divine help – there are accounts of people in the Bible who had received such help and there would be testimonies from others outside the Bible whom God had helped in times of trial. Third, he would have had experienced forms of divine help previously, so he was asking God to once again come to the aid of his servant.

The word that describes what the psalmist is looking for is assurance that God will help him. Assurance is a real Christian experience. There are several basic aspects that we can mention. First, it is possible to be a Christian and not have assurance about many things. Bunyan refers to such people in his Pilgrim’s Progress where we meet with Little-faith, Timorous and others. Second, there are three kinds of assurance that we can have with regard to our salvation, and I will mention them shortly. Third, we can have degrees of assurance in each of those kinds of assurance.

Three levels of assurance

The first level of assurance is connected to divine promises. For example, we can take the promise of Jesus, ‘Him that comes to me, I will never cast out.’ What Jesus means by coming to him is to have faith in him, reliance on him. So a person, sensitive to the fact that he is a sinner, hears or reads this wonderful promises and comes to Jesus. Because he has done so, he can deduce that he is converted based on the Bible’s promise that those who have this faith in Jesus are saved.

The second level of assurance is connected to deductions made from our spiritual state. We know that when a person becomes a Christian, he or she starts to live a new kind of life that is marked by obedience to God’s commandments. This obedience flows from within because they have been made new by the work of the Holy Spirit. One commandment in the Bible is that believers should examine themselves to see whether or not they are genuine. They looks at their hearts and can see that while they are not perfect they are not what they used to be. They have new priorities, new desires and new ambitions. They are renewed within. Since they possess evidences of spiritual change they can deduce that they have been converted, and they possess this second level of assurance as well as the first level.

The third level of assurance is of a different kind, yet it is connected to the previous two. It involves the promises of God’s Word and it requires that the person will be walking in obedience to God’s commandments. The Holy Spirit gives within the believer a heightened sense of the relevance of the divine promise and he feels within his soul the power of that promise. This sense only comes to someone who is wanting to know God at work in his life and who is not engaging in wrong practices. So we can take the promise that we mentioned previously about how Jesus will never cast out a sinner who comes to him. Sometimes, assurance comes at the level of simple acceptance of the truth of that promise, but at other times it can come with an enhanced sense of its truth. That enhanced sense is the power of the Spirit at work within the person.

It is essential that we have the activity that brings the first level of assurance. This is obvious – we must trust in Jesus in order to know divine forgiveness. We can say that this is the assurance connected to the doctrine of justification. It is also essential that we have have the evidences of a changed life that bring the second level of assurance. We can say that this is the assurance connected to the doctrine of sanctification. It is also important to have the Spirit giving us deeper assurance. We can say that this is the assurance connected to the doctrine of adoption (Paul in Romans 8 and Galatians 4 links together the witness of the Spirit and the desire of a child of God).

The expression of this desire

As we read the words of our text, what ideas come out of it that we can imitate? Here are some suggestions. First, there is an awareness of the absence of this sense of divine help. It does not mean that God would not help him, even if he did not have this assurance. But he was aware of its absence, therefore he made it a matter of prayer.

Second, there is an awareness that it was appropriate for him to ask God for it. There are some occasions when it may not be appropriate to ask God with certainty to do something because we know that he might have other plans in mind. Maybe we want a certain job, but our wanting it is no guarantee that God will give it. But it is always appropriate for a sinner who believes in Jesus to ask the Lord to provide this extra level of assurance.

Third, there is a deep longing in his heart that the Lord would speak to him in a very personal manner. He asks the Lord to impress on his heart that God is his salvation. His faith realises that God can deal with him as if he was the only person in the world, although we know that the Lord can speak to innumerable people at the same time and provide each of them with such a blessing.

Fourth, there is an awareness that if he has this third level of assurance he will be equipped to deal with whatever troubles will come to him because of the activities of his opponents. If he is given this inner consolation by the Lord, then he will be able to endure whatever will be thrown at him. Therefore, he pleads with the Lord to provide it.

Fifth, he knows that it is possible for him to be given this divine assurance secretly. He does not describe how the Lord will do it, because no one knows how the Spirit will work at a particular time. But he does know that there is nothing that can prevent the Lord working secretly and providing him with this assurance.

The evidences of its presence

What is it like to have this third level of assurance in our hearts? As we said earlier, it is connected to the other two levels – it is connected to a statement in God’s Word and the believer is living in a holy manner. In addition, the believer having prayed for this divine blessing will know certain spiritual privileges.

He will be conscious of the warmth of the love of God in his heart. Jesus said on one occasion that it was a possible Christian experience for him and the Father to reveal themselves in a believing sinner’s heart (John 14:23). Paul states that the love of God can be poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).

He will have a sense of divine peace in his heart.  Spurgeon comments on this verse that ‘one word from the Lord quiets all our fears’. Jesus promised to give his peace to his disciples when he spoke to them in the Upper Room on the night of his arrest, and the first word he said to them after his resurrection was ‘Peace be with you’ (John 20:19).

He will have divine joy in his heart. God’s joy can be given to all who seek him. This is what David prayed for in Psalm 51:11 after he had sinned so badly and was convicted over his wrong actions: ‘Restore to me the joy of your salvation.’ Another example is from Nehemiah when he told the Israelites that the joy of the Lord was their strength. As Matthew Henry says on this verse, ‘If God, by his Spirit, witness to our spirits that he is our salvation, we have enough, we need desire no more to make us happy.’

Application

The first point to mention is the importance of assurance whatever our circumstances. In the psalm, David was experiencing hostility, but what he wanted most was divine assurance. But he also wanted divine assurance when things were going well, as he indicates in other psalms.

Second, we see the importance of getting personal assurance from God. What value is it for everyone else to say a person is saved, if that person is not? We are to ask God to make it clear to us. After all, Peter told us to make our calling and election sure.