Thanks for being a Hymnary.org user. You are one of more than 10 million people from 200-plus countries around the world who have benefitted from the Hymnary website in 2024! If you feel moved to support our work today with a gift of any amount and a word of encouragement, we would be grateful.

You can donate online at our secure giving site.

Or, if you'd like to make a gift by check, please make it out to CCEL and mail it to:
Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 3201 Burton Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546
And may the promise of Advent be yours this day and always.

Click here to donate to Hymnary.org I have already donated. Please don't show this to me again
578

Forever

Scripture References

Further Reflections on Scripture References

Consult Psalms 34:8 for an exclamation about the goodness of God. But notice how it is amplified in Psalm 103:1-14, 97, 99, 100 and the refrain of Psalm 136.

Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Further Reflections on Confessions and Statements of Faith References

What we know as the attributes of God reveal his character and being. For these, he is worthy of praise and adoration. Even before he says or does anything, he is praise-worthy. The opening words of Belgic Confession, Article 1 declare that God is “eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good, and the overflowing source of all good.”

 
The Lord’s Prayer ends with a doxology, and Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 52, Question and Answer 128 extrapolates: “Your holy name…should receive all the praise, forever.” After expressing our trust in the total care of God for all things, Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 9, Question and Answer 26 declares, “God is able to do this because he is Almighty God and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.” And so we express our praise and adoration to God for who he is.

578

Forever

Additional Prayers

Optional prayer (based on Ps. 90:1-2)
Holy God, by your Holy Spirit,
open our minds and hearts
to the immensity of your glory.
Teach us what it means to confess:
“Before the mountains were born,
before you formed the world which you so love,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
Truly, you are our dwelling place through all generations. Amen.
— Lift Up Your Hearts (http://www.liftupyourheartshymnal.org)
578

Forever

Tune Information

Name
FOREVER
Key
G Major

Recordings

Musical Suggestion

For Piano Only Accompaniment:
Introduction:
  • Option 1: begin with 8 steady beats—playing a low G eight times establishing the quarter note beat, then add the right hand with the notes to the phrase, “Sing praise, sing praise!” (This is the last note of the 3rd system and the 4th system of the first page.) Repeat the phrase, “Sing praise, sing praise!” and go directly into the words to stanza 1.
  • Option 2: Play the Refrain for the introduction.  
— Diane Dykgraaf
578

Forever

Hymn Story/Background

Some songs come naturally and quickly to Chris Tomlin. “Forever” was no such song. He quips in an interview that the song “took – no pun intended – forever to write…” Tomlin had the verses down, but could not come up with a good chorus. Every time he went in to record a new song, he’d bring “Forever” with him, in the hopes that someone would look at it and come up with something. Four years later he was still bringing it to the studio, and one day he was singing “Forever God is faithful, forever God is…” but was unable to finish the sentence. His bass player’s wife stuck her head in the door and said, “strong,” and everything clicked. The song quickly became popular and a year after its release it was on the CCLI Top 200 list, quickly rising the ranks into the top 25.  
— Laura de Jong

Author and Composer Information

Chris Tomlin (b. 1972) grew up in Grand Saline, Texas. He wrote his first worship song at age fourteen, and has gone on, according to CCLI, to become the most-often sung Christian artist on Sunday mornings. He joined Louie Giglio in leading the Passion Conferences in 1997, and has toured with contemporary artists such as Matt Redman, Delirious?, Steven Curtis Chapman and TobyMac. Tomlin released his first solo album, The Noise We Make, in 2001, and his 2013 album Burning Lights debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200, the 4th ever Christian album to do so. His more well-known songs include “How Great is Our God,” “Jesus Messiah,” and “Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone).” Tomlin and wife Lauren have one daughter.
— Laura de Jong

You can view this hymn by purchasing it in our Lift Up Your Hearts mobile app.

Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play

Due to copyright restrictions, we cannot display this hymn on our website or provide printable copies of it.

Suggestions or corrections? Contact us
It looks like you are using an ad-blocker. Ad revenue helps keep us running. Please consider white-listing Hymnary.org or getting Hymnary Pro to eliminate ads entirely and help support Hymnary.org.