Rob Martin

I Need Thee Every Hour

2008.10.19 | A rare bit of seriousness |

“God, who oversees the interlacings of galaxies, stars, and worlds, asks us to confess His hand in our personal lives, too. Have we not been reassured about the fall of one sparrow and that the very hairs of our heads are numbered? God is in the details! Just as the Lord knows all of His vast creations, He also knows and loves each in any crowd—indeed, He knows and loves each and all of mankind!” ~Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, Nov. 2000, 16.

“Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.” ~Doctrine & Covenants 6:36

I believe in being independent. It is very fulfilling to be able to take care of yourself. When I was still attending school, however, I had some experiences that taught me just how independent I wasn’t. Perhaps I became convinced that I was a big boy and could do things on my own, but all the sudden I couldn’t find anything and I didn’t do so well on even the easy tests. I was trying too hard to go it alone and was neglecting my relationship with Father.

The Lord pleads with us to “look unto [Him] in every thought” and it is only by doing so that we are safe. Perhaps I was forgetting Him in my life, or at least not giving Him the attention He deserved. When God is at the center of our lives everything runs like a finely-tuned machine and revolves in its proper place like our magnificent solar system. However, when Father is off in the distance, we are the ones at the center of our lives and that is a dangerous position to be in. I remember the old joke, “How many deacons does it take to screw in a light bulb?” “Only one, because he just holds up the light bulb and the world revolves around him.” The sun is at the center of our solar system and due to its being a stable body, everything else works perfectly and allows there to be true life and meaning on our planet. Likewise, if the Son is at the center of our crazy lives everything works right. But take a smaller body, such as yourself, and revolve everything around it and it will all just go hurtling off into space; we have not the power to keep order when acting alone.

I thought I had this lesson ingrained but apparently I lost its finer details as a few years later I found myself being tutored once again by a loving Father in Heaven. I was at my parents’ house and, thanks to some undercooked hamburgers, found myself feeling very poorly. Now, I think I have a pretty good tolerance for pain and for cold, but sick is something I don’t do well. This sick spell was so bad I decided later it was probably a good things we didn’t keep firearms in the house. It was only 24 hours of food-poisoned agony, but it was a 24 hour period where the words I need thee every hour rang true once again.

I call Father’s reminders a wake up call. As independent as I would like to be, there are some things we aren’t meant to go solo on, and its not just the big things either. Asking for His help with even the menial tasks ensures He will be with us always. He will ever be on our minds—as He should be. We will have stronger relationships with Him. It also shows humility; It doesn’t take much for us to acknowledge we need His help to overcome death, but what about next week’s geography test? Our Father is indeed Lord over the whole earth. He who notes even the sparrow’s fall knows us and all our needs and is willing to help us just as soon as we acknowledge Him and ask for His assistance.

5 Comments to I Need Thee Every Hour

Leave a comment