✙ Ps. 23:4 ✙
To the Reformed way of thinking, there is but one thing that takes away the fear of evil and death, and that is the doctrine of justification by faith. As long as there is a belief that our future state depends upon our deeds, words, and thoughts, then every transgression or mistake cannot but create despair. But the assurance that it is only God's good grace that will bring us through this life into the next removes this anxiety. "Until we have reached that haven," Calvin said (Institutes 3.13.5), "the slightest breeze will make us
tremble, but so long as the Lord is our Shepherd, we shall walk without
fear in the valley of the shadow of death."
Sweet assurance! thou hast sealed me
with thy precious blood divine;
and I know, for thou hast told me,
I in life or death am thine.
with thy precious blood divine;
and I know, for thou hast told me,
I in life or death am thine.
—Fanny Crosby
I pray this in your Name, even as I pray as you taught me: Our Father...
