I Am Thine, O Lord, often called Draw Me Nearer after its refrain, is a hymn by Fanny Crosby with music by William H. Doane, published in 1875. It is a prayer for closeness to God: having heard His voice and His love, the singer longs to be closer drawn, consecrated to His service, and at home with Him in prayer as friend with friend. It echoes James 4:8, Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you, and looks ahead to the depths of love we will only know in heaven.
Fanny Crosby was visiting William Doane, the composer and businessman, at his home in Cincinnati. As she later told it, the two of them were talking one evening at twilight about how near God feels in quiet moments. Before she went to bed that night she had the words of a new hymn, and Doane wrote the tune the next day. Crosby, blind since infancy, never saw a sunset, but she knew the nearness of God she wrote about. The hymn has four verses, each a step closer: hearing, consecrating, communing, and finally longing for heaven. Below is the text as printed in 1894, then 12 KJV passages on the God who draws us and invites us to draw near.
I Am Thine, O Lord: the words
Verse 1
I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to Thee.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
Verse 2
Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
Verse 3
O, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God,
I commune as friend with friend.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
Verse 4
There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
Words: Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915), written in 1874 or 1875 at the home of William H. Doane in Cincinnati; music: William H. Doane, first published in Brightest and Best (1875). Text copied from Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6 Complete (New York and Chicago, 1894), hymn 572, checked against Hymns of Consolation (Internet Archive scans); the 1894 book prints can not, written here as cannot. The refrain is sung after every verse. Public domain.
I have heard Thy voice: the God who draws us first
1. John 10:27
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:"
The hymn opens, I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice. Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Belonging comes first. Crosby does not say, I will try to become Yours. She says, I am Thine. The sheep belong to the shepherd before they hear him, and they hear him because they belong. God's voice today comes through His Word, read and preached. The longing for more that follows in the hymn is not the cry of someone outside the fold. It is the hunger of a sheep who knows the shepherd and wants to be closer still.
2. James 4:8
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. This is the promise behind the refrain, Draw me nearer. James speaks to Christians whose hearts were divided between God and the world. He does not tell them to wait until they feel close. He tells them to come, and promises that God will meet them. Notice the order in the hymn, though: Crosby asks God to draw her. Both are true. We draw near, and we can only draw near because He is drawing us. See our Bible verses about relationship with God.
3. Hebrews 10:22
"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews has just explained that Jesus opened a new and living way into God's presence through His own blood. Now the invitation follows: let us draw near. Crosby's refrain asks to be drawn to the cross where Thou hast died and to Thy precious, bleeding side. That is where nearness to God begins. No one comes close to God by his own goodness. We come because our hearts have been sprinkled by the blood of Christ.
4. Jeremiah 31:3
"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Crosby's first verse says God's voice told Thy love to me. Here God tells Israel, in exile and broken, that His love is everlasting and that it is the reason He has drawn them. Every movement of the heart toward God begins with His love moving toward us. When we pray Draw me nearer, we are asking God to keep doing what He has done from the beginning: drawing us with lovingkindness.
Consecrate me now: hope, surrender and friendship
5. 1 Chronicles 29:5
"The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?"
Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord. When David collected gifts for the temple, he asked the people a question: And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD? To consecrate means to set apart for God. The people answered by giving willingly and with joy (1 Chronicles 29:9). Crosby asks to be consecrated, not by her own power but by the power of grace divine. Surrender to God is not something we manage alone. We offer ourselves, and His grace makes the offering real. See our page on Take My Life and Let It Be.
6. Hebrews 6:19
"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;"
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope. Hebrews describes the Christian's hope this way: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. An anchor holds a ship steady when the waves rise. This anchor is not dropped into the sea but cast upward, into heaven itself, behind the veil where Jesus has gone ahead of us. Crosby's soul looks up because her hope is up there, fixed in Christ. Feelings rise and fall, but an anchor in heaven does not move.
7. Psalms 40:8
"I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."
And my will be lost in Thine. The psalmist says, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. Hebrews 10 applies this psalm to Christ Himself, who came to do the Father's will perfectly. To have our will lost in God's is not to become a puppet. It is to want what He wants, so that obedience becomes delight rather than duty. That kind of heart is a gift. The law written within the heart is the promise of the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:33), and Crosby's prayer asks God to keep that promise.
8. Exodus 33:11
"And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle."
The third verse imagines kneeling in prayer and communing with God as friend with friend. The Bible says that of Moses: And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Crosby calls a single hour in God's presence a pure delight. Prayer is not only asking. It is also communion, time spent with a friend. Jesus told His disciples, I have called you friends (John 15:15). Through Christ, the friendship Moses had with God is open to every believer, in a quiet hour at His throne. See our Bible verses about prayer.
Depths of love that I cannot know: what heaven will show
9. Ephesians 3:18-19
"May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."
There are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. Paul prays that believers May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. That is a paradox: to know a love that passes knowledge. We can know it truly, and we will never come to the end of it. Crosby, who lived to ninety-four, believed she had only begun to understand it. The narrow sea is death. On the other side, the knowing will go deeper still.
10. 1 Corinthians 13:12
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. The mirrors of Paul's day were polished metal and gave a dim picture. Our knowledge of God now is real but partial. In heaven we shall see face to face. For Fanny Crosby these words had a special meaning. She often said that the first face she would ever see would be the face of her Saviour. Her hymn's last verse longs for that day, when partial knowing becomes full.
11. 1 Corinthians 2:9
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with Thee. Paul quotes Isaiah: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Paul goes on to say that God has revealed some of these things by His Spirit, so we are not entirely in the dark. But the full height of joy waits for the day we rest with Him. Crosby's longing is not unhappiness with this life. It is a homesickness for something better, which God Himself has prepared.
12. Psalms 17:15
"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. David contrasts himself with men whose portion is in this life. His portion is God, and his hope is to awake and behold God's face. That is where the longing of I Am Thine, O Lord comes to rest. Every step of the hymn, hearing, consecrating, communing, has been drawing the singer closer. The last step is to awake in God's presence and be satisfied. Until then, the prayer goes on: Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord.
A short prayer
Lord, I am Yours. I have heard Your voice, and it told me of Your love. Draw me nearer to the cross where You died for me. Consecrate me to Your service by the power of Your grace, and let my will be lost in Yours. Give me a steadfast hope, anchored in heaven. Meet me in prayer as a friend speaks with a friend. And when I cross the narrow sea, let me see Your face and be satisfied with Your likeness. Until then, keep drawing me nearer. Amen.
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Frequently asked questions
Who wrote I Am Thine, O Lord (Draw Me Nearer)?
Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915) wrote the words, and William Howard Doane (1832-1915) wrote the music. Crosby said the hymn came to her after an evening conversation with Doane at his home in Cincinnati about the nearness of God. It was published in Brightest and Best in 1875.
Is it called I Am Thine, O Lord or Draw Me Nearer?
Both. Its first line, and its title in most hymnals, is I Am Thine, O Lord. Many people know it as Draw Me Nearer, from the refrain. Some modern hymnals print Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord with one fewer nearer in the third line; we follow the 1894 printing.
What Bible verse is Draw Me Nearer based on?
The hymn's prayer to be drawn nearer echoes James 4:8 (Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you) and Hebrews 10:22 (Let us draw near with a true heart). Its line friend with friend recalls Exodus 33:11, and its last verse echoes Ephesians 3:18-19 and 1 Corinthians 13:12.
Is I Am Thine, O Lord in the public domain?
Yes. Crosby's words and Doane's tune were published in 1875 and are in the public domain in the United States. Newer worship versions with added choruses may be under copyright, but the original hymn may be printed and sung freely.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior · Blessed Assurance · Nearer, My God, to Thee · Sweet Hour of Prayer · Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus · Relationship with God · Seeking the Lord · Prayer
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