Moment by Moment

Dying with Je­sus, by death reck­oned mine;
Living with Je­sus, a new life di­vine;
Looking to Je­sus till glo­ry doth shine,
Moment by mo­ment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Refrain

Moment by mo­ment I’m kept in His love;
Moment by mo­ment I’ve life from ab­ove;
Looking to Je­sus till glo­ry doth shine;
Moment by mo­ment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Never a tri­al that He is not there,
Never a bur­den that He doth not bear,
Never a sor­row that He doth not share,
Moment by mo­ment, I’m un­der His care.

Refrain

Never a heart­ache, and nev­er a groan,
Never a tear­drop and nev­er a moan;
Never a dan­ger but there on the throne,
Moment by mo­ment He thinks of His own.

Refrain

Never a weak­ness that He doth not feel,
Never a sick­ness that He can­not heal;
Moment by mo­ment, in woe or in weal,
Jesus my Sav­ior, ab­ides with me still.

Refrain

Words: Daniel W. Whittle, 1893.

While I was attending the World’s Fair in Chicago, Henry Varley, a lay preacher from London, said to Major Whittle: “I do not like the hymn ‘I need Thee every hour’ very well, because I need Him every moment of the day. Soon after Major Whittle wrote this sweet hymn…[He] brought the hymn to me in manuscript a little later, saying that he would give me the copyright of both the words and music if I would print for him five hundred copies on fine paper, for distributing among his friends. His daughter, May Whittle, who later became the wife of Will R. Moody, composed the music. I did as Mr. Whittle wished; and I sent the hymn to England, where it was copyrighted on the same day as at Washington.

In England the hymn became very popular. Falling into the hands of the well-known Rev. Andrew Murray, of South Africa, then visiting London, he adopted it as his favorite hymn. A year later Mr. Murray visited Northfield [Massachusetts], and while holding a meeting for men in the church he remarked, If Sankey only knew a hymn which I found in London, and would sing it, he would find that it embraces my entire creed.

I was very anxious to know what hymn it was, and when he had recited it I said to him: Doctor, that hymn was written within five hundred yards of where we are standing.

For years Dr. Murray had his wife sing this hymn in nearly all his meetings. It also became a great favorite in South Africa during the war.

Sankey, pp. 190-91

ht: Cyberhymnal