I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR

 A monthly story on a hymn of the faith.

Think back a century-plus in history to times when nobody was absorbed with texting, tweeting, twitter and all the rest. Homemaking was labor intensive. No “push button” dishwashing, laundry or even a circular rug-hugging robot to vacuum while you sleep. Yet people took time to read their Bibles and write down their thoughts. Often that took the form of a poem.

With that background, put yourself in the middle of the 1800s, watching a New York girl named Annie Sherwood write poetry. At 14, she was regularly published in a variety of newspapers. She would eventually compose more than 400 hymn texts. But life got busy at 24 when she was married Mr. Hawks and had three children. Mothering and homemaking absorbed her life. Yet she continued to compose poetry.

One bright morning when she was 37, busy with regular household tasks, she became deeply aware of God's presence. She later wrote that she was “wondering how one could live without Him, either in joy or pain.” Poetic words came rapidly; she titled it “I Need Thee Every Hour.” She later showed the poem to her pastor, Robert Lowry, a brilliant scholar, pastor and musician, then leading the Hanson Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. He wrote a melody for it and added the refrain.

That same year (1872) it came to the attention of Ira Sankey, the revival musician for evangelist Dwight Moody. He used it for the National Baptist Sunday School Association convention, and from there it went into a hymn compilation.

From then on, Dr. Lowry's name was added to the hymn's credits as “composer.” But it would be just one of many of his that became popular during his times. His personal favorite was “Weeping Will Not Save Me” (1868). But his hymns that endured into the next century included “Low in the Grave He Lay” (1874) and “Shall We Gather at the River” (1876). (Dr. Lowry's fuller story, including the background about his heaven-focused "Gather at the River" hymn, will be told in a future blog.)

For his parishioner, Mrs. Hawks, questions about heaven loomed as she became a widow. Her grief took her back to the words she wrote as a young mother, “I need thee every hour.” She later reflected, “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 of the words which I had been permitted to give out to others in my hour of sweet serenity and peace.”

Be uplifted by this a cappella YouTube with beautiful scenery:

I Need Thee Every Hour - Bing video