Part the Waters/I Need Thee Every Hour - TSMSS

During the past week, this hymn has played over and over in my mind. Inspiration for the lyrics came in 1872 to Annie Hawks who wrote:

“One day as a young wife and mo­ther of 37 years of age, I was bu­sy with my reg­u­lar house­hold tasks. Sud­den­ly, I be­came so filled with the sense of near­ness to the Mast­er that, won­der­ing how one could live with­out Him, ei­ther in joy or pain, these words, “I Need Thee Ev­e­ry Hour,” were ush­ered in­to my mind, the thought at once tak­ing full pos­sess­ion of me.”

After writ­ing the lyr­ics, Hawks gave them to her pas­tor, Ro­bert Low­ry, who add­ed the tune and re­frain. The hymn was first pub­lished at the Na­tion­al Bap­tist Sun­day School Con­ven­tion in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio, in No­vem­ber 1872. Some years lat­er, af­ter the death of her hus­band, Hawks wrote:

“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 in the words which I had been per­mit­ted to give out to others in my hour of sweet se­ren­i­ty and peace.”

I love this version by Selah…

When I think I’m going under,

Part the waters, Lord;

When I feel the waves around me,

Calm the sea;

When I cry for help, oh hear me Lord,

And hold out your hand;

Touch my life,

Still the raging storm in me…

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 Saviour,

I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour,

In joy or pain;

Come quickly and abide,

Or life is vain.

Please visit Signs, Miracles, and Wonders for Then Sings My Soul Saturday. You may hear a song you have never heard before and you most assuredly will be blessed!