Nearer, My God, to Thee

Words by Sarah Adams, Music by Lowell Mason

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.

{Though I know very little of Sarah Adams, the words of this hymn have always been very special to me. In this verse, she clearly knew that it is generally by affliction that we are drawn, or raised, to God. It is often through our trials that we will most humbly approach, or "draw nigh" to God, and thus God draws nigh to us.}

Refrain

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.

{We are often the sheep that slowly, and sometimes suddenly depart from the Shepherd, and the rest of the flock. Then, just as a bold wandering sheep, we are caught in the darkness all alone, experiencing the fear of the world while the rest of the flock is resting safely in the light of the Shepherd. Yet, we, like Jacob take a stone for our pillow, we beg for sleep to dream of the closeness we once had with our Lord and His people.}

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy given;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

{Even a fleeting dream is sweet, if in it we feel a closeness, or nearness to our God. Often in my dreams I've been privileged to feel such a closeness to my Lord. Mercy sent many blessings to me even in sleep, and just as Jacob dreamed and saw the ladder into heaven, there have seemed to be times that I could, at least in my dreams drift right into heaven.}

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.

{Sweet often have been my dreams, and many times I hesitated to wake for fear that the precious moments with God would be destroyed. Yet Jacob woke with bright thoughts of praise. He knew he'd been with God, and while he had the grief of a night spent alone in darkness, outside of the fellowship of those he loved, he awoke not with complaint, but with adoration, and the raising of God's house. Through his woes, he was brought nigh to God.}

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.

{Surely we've all experienced closeness to God in our afflictions, yet the most precious times are those when we truly are so caught up in praise, that we would gladly leave all the best of earth and creation for more closeness with God.}

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be, nearer my God to Thee.

(Verse 6 written by William Johnson Fox)

{Truly the time will come when we'll no longer be the wanderer, never caught in darkness, but will be safe and at rest. Never to be removed from the closeness with our God that we have so long desired. What a day it'll be when we have the full realization of the mercy of our God.}

Interesting information about the song:

Lowell Mason recorded, "One night, some­time af­ter ly­ing awake in the dark, eyes wide open, through the still­ness in the house the mel­o­dy came to me, and the next morn­ing I wrote down the notes."

“Nearer, My God, to Thee” is sung at the end of the 1936 mo­vie San Fran­cis­co, which was nom­in­at­ed for sev­er­al Acad­e­my Awards. It is al­so played by the ship’s band in Ti­tan­ic, win­ner of the Acad­e­my Award for best pic­ture of 1997.

There are al­so ma­ny in­spir­ing true life stor­ies as­so­ci­at­ed with this hymn. Some Ti­tan­ic sur­viv­ors said it was played by the ship’s or­ches­tra as the ocean lin­er went down (though other sur­viv­ors said it was a dif­fer­ent song).

Another story con­cerns the death of Amer­i­can pre­si­dent Wil­liam Mc­Kin­ley, as­sass­in­at­ed in 1901. Dr. Mann, the at­tend­ing phy­si­cian, re­port­ed that among Mc­Kin­ley’s last words were “‘Near­er, my God, to Thee, e’en though it be a cross,’ has been my con­stant pray­er.” On the af­ter­noon of Sep­tem­ber 13, 1901, af­ter five min­utes of si­lence across the na­tion, bands in Un­ion and Mad­i­son Squares in New York Ci­ty played the hymn in mem­o­ry of the fall­en pre­si­dent. It was al­so played at a me­mor­i­al ser­vice for him in West­min­ster Ab­bey, Lon­don.

The hymn was also played as the body of assassinated American President James Garfield was interred at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.