Just a Closer Walk With Thee
A classic hymn and jazz standard from the 1930s/40s. An old slave melody, it seems that Kenneth Morris heard this quite by accident and then published it to great acclaim. Let's explore the history and lyrics of this great song.
This classic hymn is one of my grandfather's favourites. I hope you enjoyed this one. This is "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," and I always remember my grandfather saying, "Until you can play this on the piano, you're not really a piano player."
I'm going to give it my best shot a little bit later, but firstly, let's talk about this hymn. Do you know this one? This is a jazz standard and also an old gospel favourite from the 1930s and 40s. It's a beautiful song that has come to mean a lot to many people. It is one of the great favourites of the last century and it isn't sung as much anymore these days, but it really is a beautiful song and I think it has a lot that it can teach us. Let's start, as we always do with these videos, looking at the history.
The Story Behind "Just a Closer Walk With Thee"
The author of this one is actually unknown. Nobody quite knows where this song came from. It seems as if the song was sung by the slaves pre-civil war in the 1800s in America, but the man responsible for making this a famous song was Kenneth Morris. He was born in 1917 in New York. He played in jazz bands but later on he became a very good arranger. He knew how to write music down very well and he would arrange songs for jazz bands to play.
Soon a big church in Chicago realised that this man had some great skills. They offered him a place as their organist and he also did a lot in their radio ministry of the time. He's quite famous for introducing the organ into the gospel music industry.
There's a little bit of mystery about how he came to know this famous song, but in a book by Horace Clarence Boyer called How Sweet the Sound, a story is told: While travelling between Kansas City and Chicago in 1940, songwriter Kenneth Morris got off the train to stretch his legs. Whilst standing on the platform, he overheard a porter singing some of the words to "Just a Closer Walk With Thee." Not thinking much about it, Morris boarded the train and went on his way. The words and melody of the song kept repeating in his head and he knew he had to learn the rest of it.
At the next stop, Morris got off the train and took the next train back to the previous stop. There he managed to find the porter and Morris persuaded him to sing the song whilst he copied down the words. Morris soon added to the lyrics and published it in 1940.
If you look at the sheet music that he published in 1940, you can see at the top that it says "as sung by Mr William B Hurst of Kansas City, Missouri." It seems as if he based his arrangement on this man singing the song. Morris took the song to the National Baptist Convention in 1944 and it became a hit. Everyone started singing it, although in many circles it had already been known for years.
Over the years it's been frequently recorded by all sorts of famous artists. In the jazz world, artists like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recorded this to great acclaim. Bob Dylan has recorded it. Johnny Cash did a version. In the Southern Gospel world, The Oak Ridge Boys and all these types of groups have all recorded it. Even Ike and Tina Turner recorded a version—how about that! It really has become a famous and popular song and it's very commonly used in funerals in New Orleans because of that sort of jazz feel to it. For many people, this is a solemn song, and you will see as we go through the lyrics why.
For the rest of his life, Morris was involved in the work of publishing music, but of course the music landscape changed. It became less about that and more about records and performances. Shortly after he died in 1989, his little shop in Illinois closed down.
Why is the song so popular? Let's have a look at the lyrics and I'm sure we'll figure it out.
What Do the Lyrics of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" Mean?
Verse 1
I am weak, but Thou art strong—what a beautiful line. I'm weak but You are strong. So many Christians know exactly what this means. We are fragile and frail people, but God is strong.
Something that I often say to couples that I marry or do marriage prep with is that you can't expect your spouse to be your rock because your spouse is frail and fragile. If you're expecting that of them, that's unfair. Only One can be your rock, always strong, and that's God. When you are weak, He is strong.
Jesus, keep me from all wrong—that's a really great prayer to say. Keep me from all wrong, Lord. Keep me holy, keep me righteous. Help me to live the life You've called me to live.
Of course, the Holy Spirit in us does this. If we walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh—to use some Pauline language—then we will be kept from all wrong. This kind of reminds me of Jesus' words in the Lord's Prayer: "Deliver us from evil." Keep me, Lord, from doing evil with my hands. Help me, because if it's left up to me, I'll probably do it.
I love how the next line actually tells us: I'll be satisfied as long as I walk, let me walk close to Thee. He's saying my satisfaction is in my daily walk with You, Lord. If I'm close to You, I'll be satisfied.
I wonder if we see this in our faith. I wonder if this is how we approach our faith, seeking our satisfaction in Him. Sin is essentially seeking satisfaction in something apart from God. Whenever we turn from God's ways to try and find a life or satisfaction, that's what sin is, isn't it? We need to be the type of people who say, "I'll be satisfied if I'm walking with Christ." Where are you looking for your satisfaction? In the things of this world or in a walk with Christ?
Let me walk close to Thee—that last line, there's a sense of humility there, asking God kindly if He will allow us into His presence. Of course He does. If we have faith, He welcomes us in and walks alongside us.
The Chorus
The chorus says: Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
Many people have found great hope in this song because of this cry for a closer walk with God. That's the secret, isn't it? Aren't we all seeking a closer walk with God in our lives? I think we should all be waking up every day and saying, "Lord, let it be that we have a closer walk today than we did yesterday. Let it be that my heart will be satisfied as I walk closer to You."
Is your life a daily walk with God? There's nothing more delightful in life than getting close to God and walking alongside Him. We do this by praying and by reading His word and by singing His praise all throughout the day and by connecting with Him in all sorts of ways.
Is your life deeply entrenched in your walk with God? Make sure that you are getting closer to Him in all you do, and oh, what joy you will find there.
Verse 2
Verse 2 goes like this: Through this world of toils and snares, If I falter, Lord, who cares? Who with me my burden shares? None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
That's a sad verse for this person to say. Wherever I go, if I fall and if I fail, if I struggle, no one cares. It's only You, Lord, who really cares.
Maybe that's your experience too. Maybe you found that the people of this world are really quite shallow and that only God cares. I've been blessed to have people in my life who do care. As I falter and fall as I walk through life, I've had beautiful people in my life to help me along. That's what church is really about. It's about finding people of God who you can walk alongside so that when you struggle, they are there to help.
Church is all about sharing burdens. There's a verse in Galatians where Paul says, "Carry each other's burdens." The songwriter clearly didn't experience that, and that is very sad. I pray that you and I won't have to say none but the Lord cares, but that we can say, "Yes, Lord, You care and Your children care for me too, and I find great help in them."
I've only been at the Church of the Nazarene here in Boksburg for about six months now, but a community has formed that cares. As different people go through different things, the whole community is rallying and praying and messaging people. It's a beautiful thing to be part of.
We sing this verse and perhaps it doesn't relate because the people of God have helped us carry our burdens. Thank You, Lord, for that. I pray that you too will find a church where the people help carry your burdens in a Christ-like way.
Verse 3
Verse 3 will show us why this is a popular funeral song. It says: When my feeble life is o'er, Time for me will be no more; Guide me gently, safely o'er To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.
The songwriter knew that life was frail, that life would come to an end. Interesting that this is a theme in many of the hymns that we've done in this Friday Classic Hymns series. The songwriters of those times seem to have a real grasp of the fact that life could end at any moment.
Maybe today we don't do that. We push the thought of death aside and focus on today only, instead of realising that our lives will be over pretty soon. As long as we are in Christ, though, they will continue. If we're in Christ, then when we die, time will cease, sure, because that's an earthly thing, but we'll be guided safely to the shores of heaven.
This reminds me of the funeral of a precious friend who died when I was at Emseni Methodist. One of our ministers stood up to speak at his funeral and spoke about how when you wave goodbye to somebody who's leaving on a ship, they go away from the shore, but there's somebody on the other side, wherever they're going to land, who's going to be waiting for them.
He was saying, "You know, we've waved him goodbye now, and it's a sad moment as he's left the earth's shores, but there is a whole crowd of great witnesses waiting for him as he arrives on heaven's shores. One day when we sail to that shore, he will be among the number they are waiting for us."
That was a beautiful picture that has always stuck with me. That is awaiting us, and especially if we're in Christ, we can await it with joy. But in the meantime, what do we do? We long for a closer walk with God, daily walking by His side and living life alongside Him.
Conclusion
This is a great song to sing. I hope you'll sing it with me and be drawn here to God as you do. If you enjoyed this video, please consider subscribing to the channel. You can also support this ministry through Patreon or PayPal. For more hymn studies, check out my Friday Classic Hymns series, and don't forget to explore my daily devotions and Canaan Melodies resources.
References
Boyer, Horace Clarence. How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel
