God is near

There are a number of hymns that contain the words Nearer my God to Thee. This hymn was written by Sarah Flower, born February 22, 1805 in Essex, England, the second daughter of Bejamin and Eliza Flowers. Sarah grew up in a home surrounded by poetry and song writing and married William Bridges Adams and moved to London where she attended the independent church of William Johnson Fox. She contributed thirteen hymns to his Hymns and Anthems, one of them being "Nearer, My God to Thee". This hymn was written to follow the pastors sermon on Genesis 28:11-19, known as the story of Jacob's ladder, or Jacob's dream. Sarah wrote the hymn in a week and her sister Eliza composed the tune. 

In this Old Testament account it says that when Jacob reached a ‘certain place’ God revealed himself in a particular way and from this encounter Jacob named that place ‘Bethal’ - House of God. 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;

Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God, to Thee.

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;

All that Thou sendest me, in mercy giv’n;

Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;

So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,

There in my Saviour’s love, perfectly blest;

Age after age to be nearer, my God, to Thee

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Perhaps the way we can fully recognise the truth of God’s promise in Christ ‘to be with us always’, is to recognise that every place on our pilgrim journey is indeed  Bethal - God’s House.

A Prayer

Lord keep me so close to you.

I long to live and breathe and walk

in your presence day by day.

Be my air, my sustenance,

my bread and my water.

Help me hear and know your voice.

Keep me in remembrance of

you hour by hour.

Keep me tuned to your heartbeat. Amen