Jesus, “I Need Thee Every Hour” of chronic illness

Physical suffering brings tears and fears. Up at night, we join Job in turning to God: “My heart is heavy on account of my groaning” (Job 23:2) “and now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest” (Job 30:16-17). Like Job, we track every little symptom, making lists over the months and years they’ve cascaded into overwhelm. It’s spiritual and emotional agony of deep need.

I need thee ev’ry hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like thine
Can peace afford.

(“I Need Thee Every Hour,” Hawks & Lowry, 1872)

Job never prayed for miraculous healing; he battled lies that connected his suffering with personal sin. But, in moments, he begged God for comfort and a break from it all. It is God’s healing mercy when we experience moments of relief, however short they feel. 

Can God heal me?

We know God can heal because our powerful and sovereign God can do anything. Sometimes, He asks, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28, emphasis added). This is faith in His ability. 

Of course, all of us have experienced the healing of Jehovah Rapha (Exodus 15:26). God has healed the tiniest paper cut, a headache, the flu, or provided a needed surgery. He is the source of all healing!

Can God heal me? Of course He can! 

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted (Job 42:2 ESV).

Does God want to heal me?

This is such a hard question…because Jesus didn’t heal every sick person He encountered on earth and God doesn’t heal every sick believer now with earthly removal of sickness. Believers will be physically healed with resurrection bodies one day!

So, along with countless others over history who have conditions considered to be progressively disabling and serious, this has been great wrestling for me.

At one point, God mercifully and powerfully brought healing to my body through brain surgery, after nearly eight years of undiagnosed serious and progressive illness. 

God wanted to heal me then. It was His will, so it happened.

And now? With the same challenges recurring, I’m back to what our church’s elders fervently prayed the week that God powerfully intervened, and we found out what was wrong.

Our loving God has gently taught us that we must humbly come to Him as the leper came to Jesus and said, “If you will…” (Mk. 1:40), as Jesus Himself modeled for us:

I need thee ev’ry hour,
Teach me thy will;
And thy rich promises
In me fulfill.

Not my will, but Yours be done

Was our loving Father willing for Jesus to avoid the punishment He bore for our sin?

Was our loving Father willing to remove from Jesus the cup of the wrath we all deserve for inborn sin? For this was our situation before trusting in Christ for salvation (Eph. 2:3).

What if God had answered Jesus’ desires to avoid His suffering…desires and emotions so strong that He literally sweated blood?

Oh, how He understands our desires, with such compassion! 

We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind (Eph. 2:3 ESV).

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him (1 Thess. 5:9-10 ESV).

Our loving and holy Father had to answer, “No, my Son, my Suffering Servant.”

It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities (Is. 53:11 ESV).

I need thee ev’ry hour,
Most Holy One;
O make me thine indeed,
Thou blessed Son.

“I Need Thee Every Hour” as I ask You to heal me according to Your will

As I wrestle, every hard moment, He’s loving me to seek and ask for His perfect way and will, resting in His purpose for each hour. Loving me to pray fervently for earthly healing while also praying for His purpose to be accomplished according to His will.

Our great God’s purpose brought me to Himself in Jesus Christ, in everlasting and perfect love for me. Hallelujah! In that purpose, all of this pain is intertwined with His unending love for me. That I might…

know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3:10-11 ESV). 

I need thee ev’ry hour,
In joy or pain;
Come quickly, and abide,
Or life is vain.

Jesus prays to our Father about me…and you, sister in Christ…

I need thee ev’ry hour,
Stay thou near by;
Temptations lose their pow’r
When thou art nigh.

Material adapted from Singing the Gospel to Job: Finding Hope in Suffering, Lauri A. Hogle, © 2022

Resources for my sisters in Christ who suffer with chronic illness

Are you sick and also wrestling with all of this? Are we putting our faith in God’s healing us on earth? Are we putting our faith in our own prayers, works, wisdom, self? Or are we trusting in God Himself, releasing into His beautifully perfect plan of love for our every hour until we see Jesus face to face?

I need thee, O I need thee,
Ev’ry hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to thee.

As I walk through difficult treatment right now, I can’t offer much, but I can offer prayer for you along with playlists that God is gifting to me to help me as I sing to Him, sometimes through tears.

This week sings of our need, alongside songs of trust. We praise Jesus for what He’s done for us and ask Him to help us as we suffer, in His love, power, and empathy. When my symptoms are strongest, Scriptural songs give me words to pray. If you too are suffering with chronic illness and desire to glorify God in this way, sign up and I will send my prayer playlist to you, as a gift to our hurting hearts and bodies. Praying any of these resources will be God’s strengthening gift to you too.