I Need Thee Every Hour

When I was growing up, my parents thought it was important that we kids memorize Scripture. So ... they paid us to do it. Of course, they weren't giving away money. We didn't get paid for "Jesus wept" or anything so easy. But we could earn a dollar for memorizing a chapter of Scripture. Oh, and Psalm 117 (Two whole verses!) was not on that menu. They selected what we could memorize and paid us for doing it. So there was Psalm 1 and there was James 1 and more. Perhaps my favorite was Psalm 139.

Written by David, the psalm is about a close connection with the Lord. "O Lord," he begins, "You have searched me and known me!" (Psa 139:1) The language is intimate. Not "You have known everything" -- a general omniscience -- but "You have known me" with the background understanding of "to know biblically" -- a deep personal intimacy. God knew David in every aspect, from sitting down and rising to his thoughts (Psa 139:2), his paths (Psa 139:3), and his words even before they were spoken (Psa 139:4). David addresses God's omnipresence in his own life (Psa 139:7-12). God was even present and at work before David was born (Psa 139:13). David understood before modern medicine ever figured it out that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psa 139:14). And there was that amazing claim:

In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psa 139:16)

I've talked to a lot of Christians -- genuine, faithful, Bible-believing Christians -- who don't believe that statement. "If that's true," one who had endured some truly difficult times told me, "I'm going to have a problem with God." And I get it. It is natural for us to think that God ought to live up to our standards of good and bad, right and wrong. But ... He doesn't. And He's not the one in error.

So David winds up this intimate dialog with God with a prayer.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psa 139:23-24)

I live and thrive on this concept of God. I need a God who knows me intimately and made me wonderfully and walks with me faithfully and manages every aspect of my existence from beginning to end. I need to share David's hatred for opposition to this God (Psa 139:19-21). And I certainly and continually need His searching evaluation of my heart resulting in direction away from sin and toward Him. In a world of sin and pandemics -- viral or otherwise -- and hate and calamity, I need that God. I need Him every hour.