Hymn of the Week: May 23, 2022

Hymn of the Week: Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet
Glory to God: 458

Text Amy Grant 1984
Tune Michael W. Smith 1984

Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
When I feel afraid, and I think I’ve lost my way,
Still you’re there right beside me.
Nothing will I fear as long as you are near.
Please be near me to the end.

• This song was from American Christian singer-songwriter's 1984 album Straight Ahead, the first Christian set ever to chart on the Billboard pop chart.

• Grant and Christian singer-songwriter Michael W Smith wrote this song. It is a worshipful hymn based on Psalm 119 v 105. The song was recorded at Caribou Ranch recording studio high in the Rocky Mountains.

• Michael originally came up with the song's melody and some words for the chorus straight from David's Psalms about being a light unto my path. Amy fell in love with his demo, but as Michael had no idea what the verses were supposed to say, he gave it to her and told her she could finish the tune. "So later that night she starts walking back to her cabin," Michael told us. "And you have to understand Caribou Ranch is an 8,000-acre ranch and it's very dark, and you're in the middle of nowhere. And she got lost. There are bears and all that sort of thing. You've got to really know where you're going. It's obviously a compound with all these cabins and stuff." "She finally saw a lamp and started walking towards that light, didn't realize that that was her cabin," he continued. "And she walked into that little cabin and sat down with a notebook and pen and wrote the verses to 'Thy Word.'"

Enjoy Amy Grant’s signing of her own hymn!