Near – The Presidential Prayer Team

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks for your name is near. – Psalm 75:1

Early in the last century, Cleland Boyd McAfee was grieving the loss of two of his young nieces to diphtheria. In his grief, the young minister and writer wrote the gospel hymn “Near to the Heart of God.” Its lyrics acknowledge the two-direction nearness to God: Him to the believer, and the believer to Him. Today’s verse says that even God’s name is near.

God has many names in Scripture, each one of which holds a different facet of His nature, of who He is. Which of His many names is the name you need today? Almighty, Lord, Provider, Healer, Sanctifier, Peace, Shepherd, Strength? Whatever it is you need today, He is there for you with the name you need to know.

Despite the challenges, turbulence, suffering, and changes of the past year, it is still appropriate to be thankful that God, by whichever of His names you need Him today, is near. You can lift your voice in worship and praise Him with thanksgiving because He is in control of whatever chaos surrounds you. He offers mercy and strength to endure. “There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God; a place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God.”

Pray for members of Congress today to get their eyes off their circumstances and look to the Lord who is near and mighty to save.

Today’s Verse: Psalm 75:1

We give thanks to you, O God;
    we give thanks, for your name is near.
We recount your wondrous deeds.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Revelation 4:1-11

4  After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ²At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. ³And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. ⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, ⁶and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. ⁸And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
    who was and is and is to come!”

⁹And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

¹¹“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they existed and were created.”