Annie Sherwood Hawks

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Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Psalm 86:1-4

 I Need Thee Every Hour

 1    I need thee ev’ry hour, most gracious Lord;
     no tender voice like thine can peace afford.

Refrain

      I need thee, oh I need thee, ev’ry hour I need thee;
      oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.

2    I need thee ev’ry hour, stay thou near by;
      temptations lose their pow’r when thou art nigh.  Refrain

3    I need thee ev’ry hour, in joy or pain;
      come quickly and abide, or life is vain.  Refrain

4    I need thee ev’ry hour, teach me thy will;
      and thy rich promises in me fulfill.  Refrain

5    I need thee ev’ry hour, most Holy One,
      oh, make me thine indeed, thou blessed Son.  Refrain

Text: Annie Sherwood Hawks, 1835-1918, stanzas; Robert Lowry, 1826-1899, refrain

Not too many hymns are written by 37-year-old housewives from Brooklyn, but here is one! Annie Hawks was dusting her furniture when the words occurred to her. She later recounted “I was filled with a sense of nearness to Jesus and I wondered how through joy or pain, I could ever live without him. As I sat by an open window, in the balmy air of a bright June day, I took my pencil and wrote down these words…” The pastor of her Baptist church later put her words to music, and two years later Dwight Moody, the famous Chicago evangelist, heard it song and used it in one of his revivals.  Nearing the end of her life, Hawks put this post script on the story, “It was not until years later, when the dark shadows overcame me in the midst of a great loss that I understood the comfort in this hymn.”  God seems to excel in allowing us to learn in times of difficulty that our need for Him is ongoing, and his presence for us is enteral.

Prayer:  O God, in every hour of our lives, from the first to the last, from joy to sadness, from life to death, our need for you never ends and your love for us never ends. Amen.   

 One of my favorite renditions of this hymn by Fernando Ortega

 
 
Craig Fourman