Hymns With A Message: NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD

Sunday, August 17, 2014

NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD

It is strange how our mind sometimes recalls incidents that happened to us decades before and have since been forgotten. As I began to prepare this blog my mind went back to when I was a youngster and was having great difficulty memorizing the memory verse for the week. The verse was James 4:8, "Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you." I struggled with this simple verse probably because I didn't have any idea what was meant by "drawing nigh". But as my parents tried to explain the meaning to me it all began to make sense and it has since become one of those verses which I've never forgotten. It has also become much more meaningful to me as I've grown older and experienced the truth of the verse. James 4:8 may have been part of the truth that guided Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866 - 1944) to write these words in 1903. But like so many of the great hymns, it was born out of tragic circumstances. McAfee, an American theologian and Presbyterian minister, suffered the loss of two infant nieces to diphtheria. At that time McAfee was preacher and choir director of the campus Presbyterian church at Park College, Parkville, Mo. His daughter described the account in her book, Near to the Heart of God. Hymnologist William J. Reynolds quotes the account: "The family and town were stricken with grief. My father often told us how he sat long and late thinking of what could be said in word and song on the coming Sunday. So he wrote the little song. The choir learned it at the regular Saturday night rehearsal, and afterward they went to Howard McAfee's home and sang it as they stood under the sky outside the darkened, quarantined house. It was sung again on Sunday morning at the communion service. And in the years since it has been a real comfort to many of us who have learned that we need to "draw nigh" to the blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, who is always there to comfort us and cheer us and guide us. What a privilege to go to that place of quiet rest, of comfort sweet, of full relief, near to the heart of God. Maybe the events of your life are pressing you for that help. Then draw nigh to Him and He will draw nigh to you. He is always there to meet you when you seek Him.

(1) There is a place of quiet rest,

Near to the heart of God.

A place where sin cannot molest,

Near to the heart of God.

O Jesus, blest Redeemer,

Sent from the heart of God,

Hold us who wait before Thee

Near to the heart of God.

(2) There is a place of comfort sweet,

Near to the heart of God.

A place where we our Savior meet,

Near to the heart of God.