I Need Thee Every Hour
A busy housewife realised her need for Jesus and wrote one of the great hymns. Her pastor wrote the chorus. But it was only years later that she realised how powerful her own words were. Hear the story of I Need Thee Every Hour in today’s episode!
A few years ago, I played the modern worship song "Lord, I Need You" (I think it's written by Matt Maher and others) at one of our church services, and a lady came up to me afterwards and said, "Is that song based on the old hymn 'I Need Thee Every Hour'?" I said, "I have no idea."
I was not into hymns at all back then. Now I am into hymns. As you can see, I've got this pile of books here where I read through these to get the stories of these hymns and also do some online research. I thought I would have a look at that hymn today: "I Need Thee Every Hour."
It's a beautiful song, and I've really fallen in love with it as I've got to know it this week. What's your recollection of this song? I'm sure you've clicked on this video because you know this song. Do you have any stories or memories of it? Does it mean something special to you? Please share that in the comments below.
If you enjoy this type of thing, by the way - me exploring these classic hymns - I've done close to 100 now on Friday Classic Hymns, so have a look through the archives. I'm sure you'll find a bunch there that you enjoy. Let me tell you the story behind "I Need Thee Every Hour."
The Story Behind "I Need Thee Every Hour"
I've shared before the story of Dr Robert Lowry. He was a Baptist minister in the 1800s, and when he was leading a congregation in Brooklyn at the Hanson Place Baptist Church, a lady in that congregation came up with the song. Lowry is famous for some of his hymns - "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus", "Shall We Gather at the River?" I've already done Friday Classic episodes on those if you want to have a look at them. But he didn't do the bulk of the work for this one, because this lady in his congregation actually came up with the majority of the song.
Mrs Annie Hawks is the one who wrote this. She was born in 1835 and had a knack for writing poetry. In fact, by the age of 14, she was already published in local newspapers, and she would go on to write hundreds of poems and hymns. At the age of 24, she married a man named Charles, and they had three children together and lived in Brooklyn and attended Mr Lowry's church.
In those days, generally, women were housewives, and she was working at home one day, doing her normal things in 1872, when the words of the song just came to her. She had a moment where these words came to her. In her own words, have a listen to how it happened:
"Suddenly I became filled with the sense of nearness to the Master, and I began to wonder how anyone could ever live without Him, either in joy or pain. Then the words were ushered into my mind and these thoughts took full possession of me: I need Thee every hour."
In a moment of inspiration, these words came to her. Many songwriters or poets know how this happens. Sometimes God can just drop something onto you without you even realising how it happened. Of course, she wasn't a musician, so she took these words, these verses that she'd written, to Dr Lowry to show him, and he loved them. He recognised these are beautiful words. This could be very powerful for us to sing - simple enough for a child, but deep enough for some really robust singing and for some great teaching of wonderful truths.
He wrote a tune called "Need" specifically for this song. That's the one that we still sing today. In addition to that, he wrote the chorus. He crafted this beautiful chorus, which we also still sing today. I think that modern worship song "Lord, I Need You" is kind of based on the chorus - it's quite similar in some respects.
The same year they took the hymn to the local Baptist Sunday School convention, and it was such a hit. Soon it was published in local hymnbooks, and before long evangelists were using it in their campaigns. It was famously used by Moody and Sankey, the great evangelists of the time, and it became a favourite. It had such a relatable theme and such an easy melody. The people loved the song.
Interestingly, Annie Hawks herself never really understood why it had such a big impact until she herself went through a tragedy. When her husband died at a fairly young age, she grieved terribly his loss. She came to rely on this hymn of hers for comfort. Look at what she writes about it:
"I did not understand at first why this hymn had touched the great throbbing heart of humanity. It was not until long years 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 their hour of sweet serenity and peace."
I've often thought that sometimes a sermon God gives - He gives it to the preacher more for the preacher than for the people. Perhaps it's true of songs too. Sometimes your own song can touch you in a very deep way, even though it touches many others - it can touch you as it did her.
She kept on writing songs, and she died at the age of 83. Dr Lowry passed away a couple of years before her in the late 1800s, and this little partnership of theirs brought forth one of the most beautiful hymns that we know of. Let me take you through the words of this lovely song.
What Do the Lyrics of "I Need Thee Every Hour" Mean?
There are five verses.
Verse 1
I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
Picture Annie Hawks doing her work, busy around the house, and realising: I need Jesus every hour. No voice like His can bring me peace. The Scripture speaks a lot about peace. Jesus told His disciples that He would leave peace with them even as He went to the cross. His peace was going to be with them. Paul talks about the peace that passes all understanding in Philippians 4. Only the voice of Jesus can bring peace.
Do you hear His voice? Is your ear attuned to His voice? Of course we hear it in His word mostly. But even as you're busy about your day, is the voice of Jesus bringing you peace?
Verse 2
I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.
With the recognition of the presence of Christ, temptations bounce off you. You no longer go off to the things you used to just do, because now you realise: every hour He's with me. I know that He's close. This is a lovely prayer to pray - to say, stay close, Lord, help me to fend off temptation.
Verse 3
I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
That's a deep one. In joy or pain, I still need Him. Often in our joy we forget that we need Him because we feel confident in ourselves. But of course we need Him in joy or in pain.
Come quickly and abide, she said, or life is vain. Joy or pain - if Jesus isn't abiding in my heart, if He isn't in my heart deeply, then life is all just in vain. But when He is in our hearts, abiding with us - remember how He spoke about abiding with us in John 15 - when He is there and you're living that relationship with Him, life, whether joyful or painful, becomes ultimately meaningful.
Verse 4
I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will,
and Thy rich promises in me fulfil.
This comes straight out of the Psalms. Psalm 143:10 says, "Teach me to do your will, O God." That's the prayer of every Christian, I think. Teach me Your will. Help me to know what You want, so that I'm not just doing what I want.
If you're relying on Jesus hour by hour, this is a great prayer to pray. Show me Your will. We know in a broader sense, His will is to save us, to sanctify us, to glorify us one day. But in a more specific way, I guess we're always saying, "Lord, teach me Your will."
If we know that He's near every hour and that He never leaves us, then we can have a clearer understanding, I believe, of His will. Then she asks that the promises of God are fulfilled in her. That's a lovely thought, isn't it? God has got many great promises in Scripture which are fulfilled in us if we have faith, if we believe. Are you relying on Jesus hour by hour and seeing God's promises unfold in your life?
Verse 5
I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son.
It's a beautiful phrase: "Most Holy One." That's a great way of describing God in worshipful language.
"Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son." She wanted to belong fully to Jesus, to be His indeed, to be held by the Most Holy One hour by hour, always living in His presence, not missing out on His presence and His love and His joy for even two minutes.
Make me Thine. Is that your prayer today? Make me Yours. Make me indeed - truly, fully - Yours, O God.
The Refrain
Now let's look at the refrain that Lowry wrote. I didn't comment really on the first line of every one of these verses, because it's kind of the main theme of the refrain:
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee, every hour I need Thee;
oh, bless me now, my Saviour, I come to Thee!
That sounds a lot like the modern worship song "Lord, I Need You." The sense of need is coming out. Do you have this great sense of your need for Jesus every hour? Like, I cannot get through an hour without His power resting on me and His anointing leading me. If I don't have Him, I will just do my own thing, and that's not going to lead anywhere good. But with Him in my life, abiding in me - as all of these verses have said - bringing me peace, breaking the power of temptation, giving me purpose in joy or pain, with Him every hour I can go on and remain committed and walk in His ways.
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee, every hour I need Thee;
oh, bless me now, my Saviour, I come to Thee.
It's just keeping that connection alive. Keeping that connection going.
Conclusion
What a beautiful hymn. What have you thought of it today? Did God speak to you in the words somehow? Did one of the lines really jump out and speak to you?
For me, I'm just using this hymn as I've learnt it to remind myself of my consistent, constant need for Jesus. I can just do my own thing and then inevitably I lose my way. But if I'm cognisant of His presence with me, if I'm aware that He's here every hour, then my life changes and I have all these benefits that she spoke of, and I am blessed, as Lowry said. Wonderful stuff.
We're going to sing it now, and I hope you'll sing with me. Before I do, I want to thank you for supporting the work I do. I spend one day a week in the studio here. I record audio daily devotions, which some of you get. That's my other channel. I do a Friday Classic, and then I do a worship session which publishes on a Sunday here on my channel. Then the rest of the week I'm at my church pastoring and doing my thing there.
Your support for that one day a week is really wonderful. Thank you for blessing me in that way on PayPal and on Patreon. I am thankful. Let's sing the song together and just declare our need for Jesus every hour.
References
Anderson, T.K. 2009. 60 Hymn Stories. Cape Coast: Nyakod
Osbeck, K.W. 1985. 101 More Hymn Stories. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications
McLelland, J. 1994. The Ambassador Book of Great Hymn Stories. Belfast: Ambassador Productions Ltd
