Near to the Heart of God
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.
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.
There is a place of full release
Near to the heart of God,
A place where all is joy and peace,
Near to the heart of God.
~Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944)
And this is the text:
February 10th
Where do you turn when unexpected tragedy strikes? Cleland McAfee, a Presbyterian minister in Chicago, had just received word that his brother and sister-in-law had lost both of their daughters to diphtheria within twenty-four hours. Grief-stricken, McAfee couldn't think of deep theological issues; he could only think of verses in the book of Psalms that brought comfort and rest to those who sought refuge in the Lord. As he meditated on God's Word, he wrote the words and music to this simple hymn. At the double funeral, outside the darkened, quarantined house of his brother, Cleland McAfee with a choking voice sang this hymn publicly for the first time. The following Sunday, his church choir sang it from their pastor's handwritten copy.
Psalm 46:1, 10-11
I think it is so interesting to read the story behind these beloved hymns. Sometimes we take them for granted and forget there were real people behind the words and they had the same feelings we have today. It is such a blessing to know that we can sing these as praise to our Lord.
Let's see...I think that is all for now. I believe I feel spring coming on even though it is the beginning of February. The warm weather must be fooling me. RRrr. Now, my next task is to try and figure out how to post video. ;)
~Sarah~
3 comments:
How neat! I thoroughly enjoy reading hymn stories! It really is amazing sometimes to learn how a person came about writing a song. I have found in most of the stories I have read that they wrote them at very hard times in their lives. It is so very amazing to me that hundreds of years ago, there were more people who actually put their faith in God rather than the world. They so fully trusted in Him! If only more of this world would come to the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Thank you so much for posting this Sarah!!!!
~Lindsay
P.S.
To upload a video/movie, you click on the little box by the picture upload box. This is right of the spell-check button. Hope that helps some!! =)
It does! Thanks!
It does! Thanks!
Sarah
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