I Need Thee Every Hour

I have been doing a study about Praying with the Psalms for a while, and tonight I read Psalm 91. This Psalm says that, "Those that live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty." It goes on to say that God will rescue, protect, shield, and shelter those who trust in his name, and he will give them his salvation.

Looking at this Psalm, it is really interesting that the one before it was talking & begging with God to take pity and replace their evil years with good. When I got done reading Psalm 91, it reminded me of this hymn. I am going to post a little background about this hymn (words by Annie Hawks) along with the lyrics. I hope that you get something out of this like I have.

Story:

"Annie Hawks wrote:

One day as a young wife and mo­ther of 37 years of age, I was bu­sy with my reg­u­lar house­hold tasks. Sud­den­ly, I be­came so filled with the sense of near­ness to the Mast­er that, won­der­ing how one could live with­out Him, ei­ther in joy or pain, these words, “I Need Thee Ev­e­ry Hour,” were ush­ered in­to my mind, the thought at once tak­ing full pos­sess­ion of me.

After writ­ing the lyr­ics, Hawks gave them to her pas­tor, Ro­bert Low­ry, who add­ed the tune and re­frain. The hymn was first pub­lished at the Na­tion­al Bap­tist Sun­day School Con­ven­tion in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio, in No­vem­ber 1872. Some years lat­er, af­ter the death of her hus­band, Hawks wrote:

I did not un­der­stand at first why this hymn had touched the great throb­bing heart of hu­man­i­ty. It was not un­til long af­ter, when the sha­dow fell over my way, the sha­dow of a great loss, that I un­der­stood some­thing of the com­fort­ing pow­er in the words which I had been per­mit­ted to give out to others in my hour of sweet se­ren­i­ty and peace."

Lyrics:

I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
 no tender voice like thine can peace afford.
Refrain:
 I need thee, O I need thee;
 every hour I need thee;
 O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.

2. I need thee every hour; stay thou nearby;
 temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.
 (Refrain)

3. I need thee every hour, in joy or pain;
 come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
 (Refrain)

4. I need thee every hour; teach me thy will;
 and thy rich promises in me fulfill.
 (Refrain)

5. I need thee every hour, most Holy One;
 O make me thine indeed, thou blessed Son.
 (Refrain)