I Need Thee Every Hour

August 24, 2015

I Need Thee Every Hour

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”

James 4: 6b, 10

Between these two verses James challenges the church to acknowledge that our loyalty is divided between God and the world. James issues a call for repentance with the assurance that if we will come close to God, God will come close to us. This passage from James’ epistle reminds me of Saint Teresa of Avila’s prayer, “Help me, Lord, not to care so much about how others see me as how you see me. Grant me the grace I need to change those areas that do not please you.”

I have known people who seemingly do not care what others think of them. Although they appear to be traversing through life independent of the cares of the world and the opinions of others, I am not convinced they are as aloof from society as they may want others to think. More importantly there is no evidence that humility is their close traveling companion. Rather, cynicism seems to accompany them.

For me, the key to grasping Teresa’s prayer is in the phrase, “not to care so much about how others see me as how you see me.” Teresa may have been a mystic, but she was also a realist. We are called by God to be in community with one another, and to love others as we love ourselves. It is impossible to be in loving relationships with others without making ourselves vulnerable, and in so doing, we certainly care about how others receive us. So Teresa didn’t say not to care about how others see us; she said not to care as much as we care about how Jesus sees us. Seeking God first and foremost, above all others and all things will cause humility to blossom in our lives.

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;

No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;

Every hour I need Thee;

Oh, bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee.

Annie S. Hawks, 1872

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.