Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…

“Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants…and I will protect you wherever you go…
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!’”
Genesis 28: 10-13, 16 (NLT)

“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”
Psalm 145: 18 (NKJV)

He had to wonder what was next.

Jacob had been less than worthy of anything in his actions.

He lied, cheated, ran from his responsibilities.

And he ran from God. 

And while he was running, he came to a place for the night—and with his head laid on a stone, Jacob slept and dreamed of Angels going up and down a stairway to Heaven. With God at the top saying to him “I am the Lord…this ground belongs to you…and I will protect you wherever you go…”

Not bad, for actions that do not measure up.

But isn’t that where we find ourselves at times. Doing things we shouldn’t do. 

Feeling we are on the outside, looking in. Having messed up one thing after another. Having disappointed one person after another.

And not knowing where to turn, when we know we need to, and want to. 

But from someplace deep within our past experiences with Him, the Lord reminds us He is still near to call on. 

The same God who said to Jacob— “I will protect you wherever you go.”

The same God who David praised, leaned on, and cried out to so many times, and who he praises in Psalm 145 for all that God is, has done, and for always being near.

Jacob and David, and so many others—needing and seeking to draw nearer to God.

In 1841, Sarah Adams wrote the lyrics to the hymn— “Nearer, My God, To Thee”—which at some point thereafter was included in the Methodist Hymnal. Here are some words her heart shared—

“Nearer, my God to Thee, nearer to Thee.
Even though 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.
Though like the wanderer the sun gone down.
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone.
Yet in my dreams I’ll 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.
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee.”

Find yourself wondering what’s next? Feeling a bit unworthy? 

There’s one place that is always the same. 

Nearer to God. 

A place of security, love, peace, rest, and hope.

A safe place for you, and a safe place for me. 

Nearer to our God. Always and forever.

In His Name–Scott

Sit back in a quiet place, listen to, and be lifted by this arrangement led by Andre Rieu and performed in Amsterdam with choir and orchestra of “Nearer, My God, to Thee.”