Draw Me Nearer

I am thine, O Lord

Poetess Fanny Crosby (1820–1915) offered two slightly different accounts of the composition of this hymn, created together with composer William H. Doane (1832–1915). One account appeared in Ira Sankey’s My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (1906):

Fanny Crosby was visiting Mr. W.H. Doane in his home in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were talking together about the nearness of God, as the sun was setting and the evening shadows were gathering around them. The subject so impressed the well-known hymn-writer that before retiring she had written the words to this hymn, which has become one of the most useful she has ever written. The music by Dr. Doane so well fitted the words that the hymn has become a special favorite wherever the gospel hymns are known.[1]

The other appeared around the same time in Crosby’s Memories of Eighty Years (1906):

Generally, when a melody is given, I choose my own subject. Sometimes the melody suggests the subject at once; if it does not, I lay it aside until another time. Sometimes the words to the melody come to me faster than I can remember them. One evening, for instance, Mr. Sankey played a sweet air. I excused myself and went to my room to compose the words to “O My Redeemer.” In this way I wrote “I Am Thine, O Lord” to a melody written by Mr. Doane, and “When My Life Work Is Ended” to one written by Mr. Sweney.[2]

In the first, it seems as though the words were sparked by conversation rather than music; in the second, she insisted she heard the melody first. The stories can be reconciled if the conversation mentioned in the first story included an improvised melody by Doane. The hymn was first published in Brightest and Best (1875 | Fig. 1) in four stanzas with a refrain.

Doane and Crosby had a long-lasting professional songwriting relationship and friendship. Biographer Edith Blumhofer put it this way:

Among Crosby’s long list of musical acquaintances, none played larger roles in her life than two millionaires, William Howard Doane (who preferred Howard to William) and Phoebe Palmer Knapp. With them she wrote her most enduring hymns. They delighted in her for herself, saw to her personal comfort, and looked out for her interests. . . . Crosby often said of Doane, “I thank the dear Lord that I have not got to ask for anything. Yet if I did, I have a friend who would always give to me and help, and that is Mr. Doane.”[3]

II. Analysis

The hymn as originally printed was headed by Hebrews 10:22 (“let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water,” ESV). The text also echoes the sentiments of James 4:8 (“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you”). The first stanza describes hearing the voice of God, perhaps as in John 10:27 (“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”).

The second stanza speaks of consecration, and therefore the hymn is sometimes associated with Christian dedication ceremonies, such as ordinations. In Jesus’ prayer for his disciples before adjourning to the garden, his consecration was associated with sanctification through the Word (“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth,” John 17:17–19). The nearness described in James 4:8 is likewise associated with purity (“Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded”).

The third stanza describes the delight of an hour spent in prayer, an act of communicating as with a friend. Psalm 25:14 says, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”

The final stanza sees the perfect manifestation of love and joy as something yet to come, after crossing “the narrow sea,” a common image in hymnody, either referring figuratively to crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land, or to the sea of glass in Revelation 4:6 and 15:2, or to the river of life in Revelation 22:1. Revelation 22:4 describes a time when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Minister/composer Bryan Jeffery Leech saw the hymn this way:

The Christian faith offers intimacy with God which, in turn, makes possible intimacy with other people. This hymn speaks of that closeness between the soul and God. . . . This is also a hymn suitable for the service of holy Communion, especially if that event is understood to be the most intimate in the life of the church, and a rehearsal for the marriage supper of the Lamb, when the wedding of Christ and his people will be formally solemnized.[4]

Footnotes:

1. Ira Sankey, “I am thine, O Lord,” My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1906), p. 325: Archive.org

2. Fanny Crosby, Memories of Eighty Years (Boston: James H. Earle, 1906), pp. 168–169: Archive.org

3. Edith L. Blumhofer, Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), pp. 213, 225.

4. Bryan Jeffery Leech, “I am thine, O Lord,” The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Edition (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1990), no. 534.

Related Resources:

Robert Cottrill, “Draw Me Nearer,” Wordwise Hymns (24 Feb. 2012): https://wordwisehymns.com/2012/02/24/draw-me-nearer/

“I am thine, O Lord,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/i_am_thine_o_lord_i_have_heard_thy_voice