Saints, my heart is still moved and my affections stirred by one of the songs we sang this past Lord’s Day. Here are the words with my highlighting some key phrases:

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.

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.

 

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.

 

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!

Not much is known about the man who wrote the words to this hymn. John Stocker was born in England in the 18th century and in 1776, he contributed nine hymns, including Thy Mercy, My God, for inclusion in a new hymnal. Many of us are probably more familiar with the songwriter who wrote the tune to which we sing this song. Here are a few of Sandra McCracken’s reflections on this hymn:

Mercy is God giving us what we need when we don’t deserve an ounce of goodness. We can’t earn it. It’s a bold expectation, appealing for mercy when I don’t have anything measurable to contribute or to earn for myself. I can’t bargain with a Holy God. My appeal for grace is only and always Jesus.

Some days we see a quick answer to yesterday’s prayers. Some days we decidedly get the opposite of what we asked for. Some days, in the silence, we are just asked to wait. Most days are like that, I think….

Here, John’s hymn proclaims another bold expectation. In the midst of our failings and fears, we are the recipients of LOVE by a fiercely loving God—an obliging God, even. He gives Himself to us again and again. It is as if we are the receiving address where He sends and supplies His goodness daily. I love the phrase in the Anglican communion liturgy that says, “For it is Your property always to have mercy.” Mercy is a demonstration of God’s abundant nature. In Philippians 2, we are reminded of how Jesus humbled Himself in obedience to the Father’s will. His faithfulness toward us is measurable by His provision—daily bread, of every variety.

Saints, may we never cease to be amazed at the manifest ways our covenant God has displayed His mercies to us.  May our consideration and apprehension of them be our daily sustenance as we walk through this life and may they be the encouragement we share with one another along the way.