I Need Thee Every Hour

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Chorus
I need Thee, O I need Thee; every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour; stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain.

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
and Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.

This is one of those hymns that, although true, is sometimes hard to personally admit.  We like to think of ourselves as independent and self-reliant.  Aren’t those the kinds of qualities that made our country great?  I have often heard that kind of independent person described as a “Rugged Individualist.”  Someone that doesn’t need anybody’s help to survive in the harshest of circumstances.  “Individualist” sounds so much better than “Dependent” doesn’t it?  What is interesting is that this self-reliant mindset is not necessarily a Biblical one.  Do I think that that God wants us to be hard-working people that are prudent with our money, and are not dependent on other people for our livelihood?  Yes.  However, I don’t think God wants us to trust in our bank account, or in our paycheck, or in the skills and abilities that allow us to earn a paycheck, because when we do, we tend to forget Him.  Here’s the pattern that you see over and over in the Old Testament:  God blesses His people.  The people prosper.  The people begin to think they don’t need God any longer, forget Him, and eventually turn to false gods.  God punishes for their sin and idolatry.  The people repent and ask for forgiveness.  God forgives, then blesses, and the cycle starts all over again.  I like the fact the author communicates a desperate, continual need for the Lord when she writes “I need Thee, O, I need thee; every hour I need Thee” because when we don’t recognize this daily dependence on Him, we run the risk of forgetting Him.

• “Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh”  – In James 4:7, the Bible says “Resist the Devil and he will flee.”  As with many commands in the Bible, this is often easier said than done.  However, James does give us some practical insight about how to resist temptation in the surrounding verses.  The beginning of verse 7 says “Submit yourselves, then, to God…”  When we humble ourselves, hand over the reigns to God and submit our will to His leadership, we can echo the phrase in the Lord’s prayer “lead us not into temptation” and this is the first step in resisting temptations.  We have to submit, and let Him lead.  Secondly, in verse 8, James instructs us to “Come near to God, and He will come near to you.”  When we draw close to Him and our focus is on Him, temptations do “lose their power” as He comes nigh.  There’s a phrase in another old hymn that states “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face.  And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”   We sometimes think of those things as just material things, but I think it also applies to temptations.  Temptations also grow strangely dim in the light of His amazing grace.

• “In joy or pain” –  This is my favorite line in this hymn.  Initially, it seems rather odd though.  Needing God during a time of pain – very easy to understand because I have been there, done that.  But during a time of joy, why would we need Him then?  Maybe it is to keep us humble and remind us that life has its seasons, and we won’t always experience times of joy.  Maybe we need Him to celebrate with us.  Don’t you want your close family members around during those joyous times of life?  Experiencing both the highs and lows of life are better when experiencing them with someone close to you.   Or maybe we just need to recognize that “Every good and perfect gift is from above” and understand that He is the source of our joy, and thank Him for it.   I hope that we realize, whether in joy or pain, that we need Him.  I hope that we also realize He is there for us when we need Him.

Have you ever been to someone’s house that had one of those clocks that chime every hour?  You know what I am talking about.  The ones that go “Bong, Bong, Bong, Bong………..Bong, Bong, Bong, Bong.”  I have spent the night at a person’s house before and thought that I would never be able to go to sleep with that chiming noise.  The hourly chime may be really neat to hear at 3:00 in the afternoon, but not at 3:00 in the morning.  Although I am normally a pretty patient person, I have been on the verge of throwing one of those clocks out the window in the middle of the night.  (Maybe you own one of these types of clocks, and if so, I do not mean to offend, but hopefully you will grant me some leeway as I try to make a point).  What is extremely interesting about the people that own these kinds of clocks, is that they don’t seem to notice their chiming.  They have grown so accustomed to hearing them that the noise doesn’t even register any longer.  You can ask them “Is that clock always that loud?”  and inevitably, they will say either “What clock?” or “Oh, I don’t even notice it anymore.”  The clock chimes 24 times a day, but they may only notice it only a couple of times, if that.

I wonder if the same could be said of us.  God has provided for us so regularly, like clock-work, over the years that maybe we don’t even notice it anymore, and we take for granted the fact that He supplies our needs.  We don’t really notice that the lights come on every time we hit the switch.  We don’t notice that the car starts like it should when we put the key in the ignition.  We don’t even realize how much food is in the fridge or pantry when we say “There’s nothing to eat around here!”  My kids definitely don’t notice when I pick up the check at the restaurant after church on Sunday.  They just take it for granted.  The question is “Are we so used to having our needs (and many of our wants) met that we have forgotten who really is continually blessing and providing for us?”  I appreciate the author’s reminder that we need Him every hour.  We need Him for our next breath.  We need for our next meal.  We need His guidance hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.  So, the next time you hear the chiming of a clock, don’t be like me and get annoyed.  Let it be a reminder to you (even at 3:00 in the morning) that you need Him, every hour on the hour, and I hope it reminds you to thank God for His constant provision.  

If you aren’t familiar with this hymn, here’s a link to a wonderful rendition by the Issacs’ and Randy Owen from the group Alabama.  The music is as beautiful as the words.