I Need Thee, Precious Jesus

So here's my thinking.

If God has called me to something, He will obviously supply all of the strength and ability to complete the task, right? I'm talking like accomplish said task or perform the given role by myself with no help from anyone else. As in, there is never a reason to ask anyone else for help because God has given me this thing to do or be, so to ask for help is obviously not His design.

This is my thinking: to admit that I need help is basically accusing God of not being enough for me or saying that I somehow missed His provision or ability and am thus a failure. Right? A total failure because I asked for help.

What a stronghold the Enemy has had on my thinking, friend.

I have, for I don't know how long, thought of God in this way: I needed Him to save me from my sins. I need Him to provide for my material needs. And I need Him to intervene in the crises. But on a day-to-day basis, shouldn't I be able to do this on my own? I mean...surely if He has given me a position to fill, I am not to daily ask Him for help in filling it. Right?

Oh no. I have been severely deceived.

I was reminded this morning that I need Him. Every hour I need Him. In my heart I find a need of Him to be my Savior. Daily. A daily need. And that is how He desires it.

Second Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." This is how God's power is shown--not through my strength, but through my weakness.

Friends, I am weak. I am weary. I know...I'm two days shy of having a baby and highly emotional because of it. But before and beyond this moment, I am weak. I have forgotten that God works through that. I have convinced myself that in order to show His power, I need to be all that He has called me to be, to the fullest extent, all by myself. I am a toddler, for heaven's sake! "No! I do it! All by myself!" I find myself exclaiming (even if not always aloud) at every turn.

When asked how I planned to "Be You, Bravely" this year in MOPS, my reply was that I wanted to ask others for help. That is bravery for me! What a prideful person I am that I am afraid to ask others for help for fear of their judgment and condemnation or the fear that I will be a burden to them. "Bear one another's burdens" certainly doesn't apply to you if you are trying to bear my burdens, does it? Only to me as I bear yours!

Or maybe it does. Maybe God didn't intend for me to do this whole thing alone. Maybe that's why He created to be relational beings. He gave us family, friends, neighbors, community, and the church body to assist and relate.

The roles I hold are overwhelming without Him. God has created and called me to be these many things, so why would I think I am supposed to be able to be them without Him?

I need the Lord. I need Him to uphold me. I need His voice to speak in the night. I need Him to be my refuge and rest. I need Him to be my husband. And I need Him to restore my soul.

I came across a hymn in the meeting this morning at church that I could hardly take my eyes off of. It is "I Need Thee, Precious Savior" by Frederick Whitfield. The third stanza goes like this:

I need Thee, precious Jesus,
I need a friend like Thee,
A friend to soothe and pity,
A friend to care for me.
I need the heart of Jesus
To feel each anxious care,
To tell my every trial,
And all my sorrows share.

This is me, ladies and gentlemen. I need my Savior. And I cannot do this on my own. I will be crushed under the weight if I try to do this all myself. So this hymn is my prayer today:

Oh teach me what it meaneth,
For I am full of sin;
And grace alone can reach me,
And love alone can win.
Oh teach me for I need Thee,
I have no hope beside,
The chief of all the sinners,
For whom the Savior died.