Annie Sherwood Hawks, who died in 1918, wrote four hundred hymns in her life, of which only one is remembered on a wide scale. I Need Thee Every Hour was one of my favorite church songs as a kid and remains so today although we don't sing it as much as we used to. According to Dr. C. Michael Hawn, Hawks penned the timeless hymn at age thirty-seven. One day while doing housework, she was struck by her need for the presence of the Savior, a need she felt every hour. Hawn makes the point that if all five verses are sung along with the refrain, the phrase I need thee is repeated twenty times! I tell my students the more something is repeated in the Bible, the more important it likely is. The same can be said for Annie Hawks' sentiments.
If you are a regular reader, you might recall I had an issue with my left knee several weeks before my annual mission to Vietnam. I woke up on the morning of Tuesday, June 13 with a twinge but by the end of the day, my knee was the size and shape of a volleyball. I kept thinking it would get better but it didn't. I made it through several more days of basketball camp but it was difficult. By the following Monday, I was greatly concerned that my trip was in peril. I was blessed to get into a well-known orthopedic doctor who was covered by our school insurance. The next morning, my left knee was drained of 34 cc's of bloody fluid and injected with a steroid shot. The x-rays showed no particular problems and the doctor told me I would feel better almost immediately, which I did. He started me on a thirty day prescription of an anti-inflammatory and gave me these instructions: stay off it, ice constantly, wear a compression sleeve, and faithfully do the two stretching exercises diagrammed for me. I did and in the fifteen days before my plane left for Asia, I was back to normal. I wore the sleeve on the flight as the doctor recommended and I kept taking my prescription. I got some ice in my hotel room but since I was feeling better, I never used it. During the first part of the twenty-nine day excursion, I religiously did the exercises but as the pain and swelling disappeared, I almost completely stopped doing what I was told.
Since I've been back in Houston, two weeks ago today, I've only stretched three or four times. I was sore after swimming and working out the first time in two months but that was temporary. But here's the thing. Both the doctor and our former trainer who examined me told me the same thing; doing these exercises would help prevent the situation from happening again.... and I believe them! And yet, once the crisis had passed, I quit doing what had helped heal me and what promised to keep me much freer from pain. Let me tell you, I was in agony before I had the knee procedure and I NEVER want to be limited like that again. But I'm doing nothing to prevent its recurrence. That's what hits me about Annie Hawk's wonderful hymn. She confesses her complete and utter reliance on Jesus all the time. Not just when she's sick or scared or lonely or needy. Her third verse begins with,
I need thee every hour
In joy or pain
Sometimes I/we treat prayer and communing with the Godhead as an emergency measure, like breaking the glass to the fire extinguisher. When our calamity is under control, we return the safety equipment back to its storage space in case we need it again. Prayer should be a consistent theme in our life, not a fall back position for when we are out of options. I really dislike the statement when all else fails, pray as prayer should be the first thing we do in every vignette of life. And yet, that's how I often act. I'll stretch again when my knee hurts again. I tend to pray more when my heart hurts again. If I prayed every hour as Annie Hawks suggested, maybe my heart would not ache as much. That's why I need thee every hour.
To listen to I Need Thee Every Hour, click or copy/paste the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOT4mKE4GFI
Applicable quote of the day:
“Songs and hymns refresh the body. Hymns invoke the spirit to rise to its maker for strength. When we live in a day without a hymn or a song, we disregard the essence of the day”
Ernest Mangy Yeboah
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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