Close To Thee
Close to Thee
Thou my everlasting portion,
More than friend or life to me;
All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee;
All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Not for ease or worldly pleasure,
Nor for fame my prayer shall be;
Gladly will I toil and suffer,
Only let me walk with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee;
Gladly will I toil and suffer,
Only let me walk with Thee.
Lead me through the vale of shadows,
Bear me o’er life’s fitful sea;
Then the gate of life eternal
May I enter, Lord, with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee;
Then the gate of life eternal
May I enter, Lord, with Thee.
A SCOTTISH MINISTER once told Fanny Crosby that it was too bad that God had allowed her to become blind. Crosby quickly responded, “If I had been given a choice at birth, I would have asked to be blind . . . for when I get to heaven, the first face I will see will be the one who died for me.” That desire to see Jesus, to be close to Him, was always foremost in her mind.
When Silas Jones Vail, who was a Long Island hatter by trade, said he had a tune for Crosby, she asked him to play it for her. As he was playing it, Crosby said, “That refrain said ‘Close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee.’ ”
“Thou my everlasting portion” is a frequent allusion in the Psalms. The Old Testament Levites did not inherit any land in Canaan because the Lord was to be their portion. Similarly, Fanny Crosby was not given sight, but she felt blessed because the Lord was her portion.
Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:22
From the book
