Grace Abounding

The song “Thy Mercy My God” is a favorite hymn often sung at our local church in Alexandria, Virginia. It’s an old hymn by John Stocker (1776) put to new music by Sandra McCracken (2001). It’s the hymn of the month at Grace Church.

Why do we love this hymn? Because it preaches the gospel to us every time we sing it! The first verse revels with wonder at the transforming grace God has given believers. Verse 2 reminds us that our sin nature and willful sin disqualify us from knowing God and tasting real joy, but God has reversed our sinful condition out of his generous kindness. Verse 3 celebrates that God’s “mercy is more than a match for my heart which wonders to feel its own hardness depart,” a recognition that though we are great sinners, we have a Savior greater than our sin. The final verse thanks the Holy Spirit for applying the work of redemption in the believer’s life.

Get to know this hymn by downloading the sheet music here for free or by watching it worshipfully played on this YouTube video:

Thy Mercy My God
1. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

2. Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

3. Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

4. Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

©2001 Same Old Dress Music (ASCAP).

Previous songs of the month at Grace Church of Alexandria are listed here.