How Is ‘Every Hour I Need Thee’ True?

　　There’s a sign hanging in our living room in a rather conspicuous spot. I find myself glancing at it quite often. It is a simple sign consisting of three wooden boards with these words painted across the boards in white cursive, “Every hour I need Thee.” That statement could not be truer, and as I go through life and the moments it holds, these words leave my lips more often than not.

　　

I Need You, Lord

Perhaps you can relate to the quiet moments in prayer when the difficulties of life seem to come in waves never-ending, and you are at a loss for words or the words coming out find no intelligible sound but instead are but a faint whisper. I need You, Lord. I need You every hour of every day. I do not know what else to say right now except that I need You.

　　There is beauty in weakness before the Lord as we cast our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). You and I need Him. Without Him, we are lost and without hope. With Him, we rejoice even in trials and difficulties, and our hope is anchored in the One who gave Himself for us.

　　I have found myself in these I need You every hour moments with the Lord more times in the past few years than I can remember. The most recent one occurred last week right before Christmas Eve when our daughter became suddenly ill with symptoms looking like appendicitis. We spent most of the night in the emergency room waiting and running tests.

　　Thankfully, all was well, and the symptoms left as fast as they arrived. While at the hospital, I had reached out to our church and to our family for prayer. I have no doubt God answered our prayers because He is faithful to do so.

　　There have been several trials these past few years. In 2019, our family came out of false teaching and a church where we had been for almost two decades. I had a difficult pregnancy with our second child in 2020.

　　My husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis this year. This one hit me pretty hard as there were some scary moments spent in the hospital prior to his diagnosis. We have had three freak accidents with one of our vehicles.

　　Our home was hit by lightning last year. It sounds absurd when I put this into one paragraph, doesn’t it? I wish it were all fiction, but it is not. And yet, a beautiful utterance continues to escape my lips in every breaker that comes our way. I need You, Lord. We need You every hour.

　　

Put Your Trust in God

There are blessings in times of difficulty. The blessings come in the killing of pride and in recognizing your dependence upon God. They are found in His grace and mercy and in acknowledging that though circumstances change, He changes not.

　　Life’s circumstances do not determine Him being worthy of praise and glory. Perhaps you can relate to this. I wonder sometimes how I have tears left to shed in what appears to have formed an ocean.

　　A verse from Lord from Sorrows Deep I Call (Psalm 42) resonates in these times, “Lord from sorrows deep I call, when my hope is shaken. Torn and ruined from the fall, hear my desperation. For so long I’ve pled and prayed, God, come to my rescue. Even so the thorn remains. Still my heart will praise You.”

　　Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

　　Whether we are dealing with the fallenness of sin in our lives or the difficulties from living in a fallen world and the trials that ensue, we as believers in Christ can come before the Lord in prayer and in our weakness.

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　　We can trust Him, understanding that He strengthens us in our time of weakness. To say we need Him every hour is trusting in Him to sustain us in the storms of life. In the midst of suffering and trials, I am thankful to call out to God who hears my cries and prayers.

　　Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” Psalm 50:15 says, ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Indeed, He is a beautiful Savior.

　　We are reminded to abide in Christ because apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Therefore, we continuously come to the Lord in our time of need. I cannot boast of my own strength because it is a façade.

　　If I did not have Christ, I would be hopeless. We have all we need in Him. Does this mean we will not have difficult times? No, it doesn’t. It does mean that even through tears and pain, God will give us His peace in difficult times. He gives us rest.

　　Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” From the sin-sick to those who are weighed down with the burdens of life, He beckons us to come to Him. He beckons us to need Him every hour.

　　

What Does This Mean?

If you are facing difficult times right now, or if you have come out of a time of heartbreak, loss, or suffering, I encourage you to call upon Him. Run to the Lord. Lift prayers and petitions to Him, trusting that He is faithful, no matter the outcome.

　　Learn to embrace your weakness and His strength perfecting your weakness. And whether or not you can carry a tune, sing to Him, I need Thee, O I need Thee, Every hour I need Thee; O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.

　　For further reading:

　　Do We Really Need to Pray if God Knows Our Heart?

　　Do Our Battles Really Belong to the Lord?

　　Why Is it So Important to Have Quiet Time with the Lord?

　　Why Are We Reminded in the Bible That the Lord Is with Us?

　　Is the Lord with Me When I Can’t?