Fanny Crosby Knew Her Redeemer

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” Ephesians 1:7

Fanny Crosby, author of this song, was blind almost from birth.  Imagine never seeing this beautiful earth that God created.  She would not have remembered seeing her parents’ faces.  She lived in complete darkness.  Did she pity herself?  No.  She wrote hymns; thousands of them.  She rejoiced with the spiritual sight, God gave her.

We are the beneficiaries of her spiritual sight.

Redeemed, how I love to pro­claim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His in­fi­nite mer­cy,
His child and for­ev­er I am.

First and foremost, Crosby knew she was a child of God.  She was redeemed.  Redeemed through the blood of Christ because of His infinite mercy.

Redeemed, and so hap­py in Je­sus,
No lang­uage my rap­ture can tell;
I know that the light of His pre­sence
With me doth con­tin­ual­ly dwell.

Happy in Jesus?  She sat in darkness day after day!  Crosby had no language to express the love she had for her Savior.  She knew that her salvation was eternal!

I think of my bless­èd Re­deem­er,
I think of Him all the day long:
I sing, for I can­not be si­lent;
His love is the theme of my song.

As Crosby sat in her home, she did not wallow in misery but she wrote songs in praise to her God.  I believe in order to write the rich songs she has, she knew her Bible! She sang because she could not be quiet.  I think she and I would have been great friends.

I know I shall see in His beauty
The King in whose law I de­light;
Who lov­ing­ly guard­eth my foot­steps,
And give­th me songs in the night.

At some point Crosby realized she would see her King.  She knew that He was keeping a close eye on her on earth and that even in her darkest moments, He still gave her a song to sing.  Life is hard on all of us.  We each have our own cross to bear but He can give us songs in those darkest of times.

I know there’s a crown that is wait­ing,
In yon­der bright man­sion for me,
And soon, with the spir­its made per­fect,
At home with the Lord I shall be.

And then the promise she knew.  She had a crown waiting for her in heaven because she knew her Lord.  This verse isn’t in our hymnals but it should be!  It’s a great ending to a lovely song.  A song rich in the story of redemption.  She finishes each verse with this chorus that if you sing it, you can’t help but sing it loudly and joyfully!

Redeemed, re­deemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, re­deemed,
His child and for­ev­er I am.

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” Romans 3:24