I Need Thee Every Hour
I Need Thee Every Hour
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.
I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Ev’ry hour I need Thee!
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r
When Thou art nigh.
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
In joy or pain;
Come quickly, and abide,
Or life is vain.
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Teach me Thy will,
And Thy rich promises
In me fulfill.
Robert Lowry (1826–1899), refrain
YOU DON’T OFTEN THINK of hymns being written by thirty-seven-year-old homemakers from Brooklyn, but that’s the story of this hymn. Annie Hawks was busy with her household chores when the words came to her. She later wrote, “I was so filled with a sense of nearness to my Master that, wondering how one could live without Him in either joy or pain, these words, ‘I need thee every hour,’ were flashed into my mind. Seating myself by the open window in the balmy air of the bright June day, I caught up my pencil and the words were soon committed to paper.”
Hawks reflected, “It was not until years later, when the shadow fell over my way, the shadow of a great loss, that I understood something of the comforting power in the words.” God often allows us to learn in the sunshine what we will need to lean on in the darkness.
Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help. Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you.
Psalm 86:1-4
From the book
