WHEN ALL THY MERCIES, O MY GOD

Amazing Grace

Joseph Addison, 1672–1719

Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever. (1 Chronicles 16:11 KJV)

A reflection upon God’s blessings will always result in a response of worship and praise; a neglect of gratitude will eventually produce a lifestyle of self-centeredness.

Joseph Addison, the author of this hymn, wrote this introduction for his text:

If gratitude is due from man to man, how much more from man to his Maker. The Supreme being does not only confer upon us those bounties which proceed immediately from His hand, but even those benefits which are conveyed to us by others. Any blessing which we enjoy, by what means soever derived, is the gift of Him who is the great author of good and the Father of mercies.

Joseph Addison was recognized in his era as one of England’s literary greats. He was not only a writer and a moralist, but a man of affairs in his government. He was elected to Parliament and then appointed successively as Under Secretary, Secretary for Ireland, and finally Secretary of State.

These words are thought to have been written by Joseph Addison following his rescue from a shipwreck during a storm off the Coast of Genoa, Italy. The hymn originally had 13 stanzas. It was published on August 9, 1712, in a London daily paper, The Spectator, of which Addison served for a time as editor. The surviving four stanzas have since provided God’s people with a meaningful aid in expressing grateful worship to God for all of His enduring mercies:

When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view I’m lost in wonder, love and praise.

Unnumbered comforts to my soul Thy tender care bestowed before my infant heart conceived from whom those comforts flowed.

When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou with health renewed my face; and, when in sins and sorrows bowed, revived my soul with grace.

Thru ev’ry period of my life Thy goodness I’ll pursue, and after death, in distant worlds, the glorious theme renew.

For Today: Psalm 63:1–5; 86:5–17; 89:1; 103:8–14; James 3:17

Reflect with this author upon God’s mercy of comfort, His mercy of physical and spiritual healing, His mercy of reviving grace—then, respond to Him with grateful expressions of worship and praise. Allow this hymn to help—

Osbeck, K. W.

• O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee: my flesh longeth greatly after thee in a barren and dry land without water: Thus I behold thee as in the Sanctuary, when I behold thy power and thy glory. For thy loving-kindness is better than life: therefore my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I magnify thee all my life, and lift up mine hands in thy Name. My soul shall be satisfied, as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips, Psalm 63:1-5
• For thou, Lord, art good and merciful, and of great kindness unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, Lord, unto my prayer, and hearken to the voice of my supplication. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou hearest me. Among the gods there is none like thee, O Lord, and there is none that can do like thy works. All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy Name. For thou art great and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.* Teach my thy way, O Lord, and I will walk in thy truth: knit mine heart unto thee, that I may fear thy Name forever. For great is thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest grave. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought my soul, and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord, art a pitiful God and merciful, slow to anger, and great in kindness and truth. Turn unto me, and have mercy upon me: give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. Show a token of thy goodness toward me, that they which hate me, may see it, and be ashamed, because thou, O Lord, hast helped me and comforted me. Psalm 86:5-17
• I will sing the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I declare thy truth from generation to generation. Psalm 89:1
• The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness. He will not always chide, neither keep his anger forever. He hath not dealth with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heaven is above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. For he knoweth whereof we be made: he remembereth that we are but dust. Psalm 103:8-14
• But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, and without hypocrisy. James 3:17

*WP4Y emphasis