Patricia Hofer

Following Christ means yielding

I need thee every hour, teach me thy will; and thy rich promises in me fulfill. (Annie Hawks 1872)

How God’s “rich promises” are going to play out in our lives can be confusing. At least that is what I’ve experienced after my remarkable saving moments with the Lord. At first, I just kind of drifted along blissfully, feeling so comforted, so blessed. And yet, even while I was moving back to Arizona and working into a different job, the questions started coming, “Why me, Lord. Why did this happen to me?”

My search for answers led me to start reading. One inspired Christian writer after another took me by the hand. C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity introduced me to a lifetime of thoughts. And then one day during those years, I was walking near my house in Glendale, feeling reassured by the beautiful experience Charles Raven shared in his book A Wanderer’s Way (1929). That was the moment when the thought finally slipped in that maybe I was supposed to write something too. And yet, at the time, I had no idea what I would say or how I would even begin.

Hawks’ inspired line, “teach me thy will,” surprised me with insight. It was not my “will” and my “rich promises” but God’s. He does the creating of purpose and He does the fulfilling. And that is true for all of us. The role we play, the only role we can play, is the yielding. So every day, you and I both need to sing along with Annie:

I need thee, O I need thee, every hour I need thee! O bless me now, my Savior—I come to thee.

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