Amazing Grace
Sarah R. Adams, 1805–1848
Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. (James 4:8 KJV)
This well-loved hymn was written by a talented and charming English woman who lived only 43 years. In spite of her delicate health, Sarah Flower Adams had an active and productive life. After a successful career on the London stage as Shakespeare’s Lady MacBeth, she began to write and became widely known for her literary accomplishments. The cross mentioned in the first stanza of her hymn text may have been the physical handicaps that limited her many ambitions.
Sarah’s sister Eliza was gifted musically and often composed melodies for her sister’s poems. Together they contributed 13 texts and 62 new tunes for a hymnal that was being compiled by their pastor. One day the Rev. William J. Fox asked for a new hymn to accompany his sermon on the story of Jacob and Esau. Sarah spent much time studying Genesis 28:10–22 and within a short time completed all of the stanzas of “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” Since that day in 1840, this hymn has had an unusual history of ministering spiritual comfort to hurting people everywhere.
These lines picturing Jacob sleeping on a stone, dreaming of angels, and naming the place Bethel, meaning “the house of God,” seem to reflect the common yearning—especially in times of deep need—to experience God’s nearness and presence in a very real way.
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee! E’en tho 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!
Tho 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!
Then with my waking thoughts, bright with Thy praise, out of my stony griefs. Bethel I 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 fly, till all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
For Today: Genesis 28:10–22; Psalm 16:7, 8; 73:28; 145:18; Jeremiah 29:13; Acts 17:27
When I seek God, He has promised to draw very close to me. What a joyful experience to know His intimate presence throughout every hour of this day. It causes me to sing—
Osbeck, K. W.
- Now acob departed from Beersheba, and went to Haran. And he came unto a certain place, and tarried there all night because the sun was down, and took of the stones of the place, and laid under his head and slept in the same place. Then he dreamed, and behold, there stood a ladder upon the earth, and the top of it reached up to heaven: and lo, the Angels of God went up and down by it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land, upon the which thou sleepest, will I give thee and thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the West, and to the East, and to the North, and to the South, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And lo, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land: for I will not forsake thee until I have performed that, that I have promised thee. Then Jacob awoke out of his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware. And he was afraid, and said, How fearful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Then Jaco rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had laid under his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: notwithstanding the name of that city was at the first called Luz. Then Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be withme, and will keep me in this journey which I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothes to put on. So that I come again unto my father’s house in safety, then shall the Lord be my God. And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me, will I give the tenth unto thee.Genesis 28:10-22
- I will praise the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also teach me in the nights. I have set the Lord always before me: for he is at my right hand: therefore I shall not abide. Psalm 16:7-8
- As for me, it is good for me to draw near to God: therefore I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works. Psalm 73:28
- The Lord is near unto all that call upon him, yea, to all that call upon him in truth. Psalm 145:18
- And ye shall seek me, and find me, because ye shall seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13
- That they should seek the Lord, if so be they might have groped after him, and found him, though doubtless he be not far from ever one of us. Acts 17:27
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