Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Representative Text

1. Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.

Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness,
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hast provided;
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.

2. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. [Refrain]

3. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside. [Refrain]

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #311

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Author: Thomas O. Chisholm

Thomas O. Chisholm was born in Franklin, Kentucky in 1866. His boyhood was spent on a farm and in teaching district schools. He spent five years as editor of the local paper at Franklin. He was converted to Christianity at the age of 26 and soon after was business manager and office editor of the "Pentecostal Herald" of Louisville, Ky. In 1903 he entered the ministry of the M. E. Church South. His aim in writing was to incorporate as much as Scripture as possible and to avoid flippant or sentimental themes. Dianne Shapiro, from "The Singers and Their Songs: sketches of living gospel hymn writers" by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (Chicago: The Rodeheaver Company, 1916)… Go to person page >

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Related Texts

First Line:	Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
Title:	Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Author:	Thomas O. Chisholm (1923)
Meter:	11.10.11.10 with refrain
Place of Origin:	United States
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	Great is Thy faithfulness
Publication Date:	1923
Notes:	French translation: "Grande fidélité, ô Dieu, mon Père" by Shirley Judd; Spanish translation: See "Oh, Dios eterno, tu misericordia" by Honorato T. Reza
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Singing Joy: for Girls and boys #122

English

10 shown out of 155

Notes

Thomas Chisholm, the author of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and 1200 other poems was born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1866, and he lived a pretty unremarkable life: he worked as a school teacher, a newspaper editor, and insurance agent, then he retired and spent his remaining days at the Methodist Home for the Aged in New Jersey. Unlike many hymns that have heart-wrenching stories behind them (for instance "It Is Well With My Soul"), "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" is inspired by the simple realization that God is at work in our lives on a daily basis. He wrote, "My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness." The hymn reminds us that God doesn't only work in dramatic or miraculous ways, but also in simple, everyday ways. It also reminds us that Jesus has never failed us in the past, so we have no reason to doubt his faithfulness in the future. --Greg Scheer, 1994

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Tune

FAITHFULNESS (Runyan)

William Marion Runyan (b. Marion, NY, 1870; d. Pittsburg, KS, 1957) composed FAITHFULNESS for Chisholm's text in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923. Twenty years later Runyan wrote: Mr. Chisholm and I were devoted co-workers, and I wrote harmonies to some 20 or 25 of his poems. This particular poem held such…

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Thomas Chisholm, author of “Great is Thy Faithfulness” led a pretty ordinary life. He did not write this hymn during a period of intense grief or after encountering God in a profound way. Instead, he found truth in the words he encountered in Lamentations 3:22-23: “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Jeremiah, on the other hand, was in tumultuous circumstances when writing Lamentations. The people to whom he prophesied did not listen, and he was ostracized and completely alone because of what God called him to do. He also lamented the consequences of their faithlessness. God allowed them to be conquered by the Babylonians, resulting in their entire world being laid to waste. But in the midst of that utter devastation, Jeremiah still offers them hope on the horizon: they are not completely destroyed because of the LORD’s compassion and faithfulness, and in the morning, after this “dark night of the soul,” things will be better. So whether we are at a place in our lives where everything is pretty ordinary, or whether we are in a period of grief: no matter what our circumstances, God never changes and is faithful to us, sustaining us in his compassion and faithfulness each and every day.

Text:

This hymn was written in 1923 by poet Thomas Chisholm, author of more than 1,200 poems during his lifetime. He mailed it to his friend William Runyan, who set it to music.

The text of the hymn is consistent to what was originally written, other than one minor change in the third stanza from “thy” to “thine” by the United Methodist Hymnal (1989) and Baptist Hymnal (1991) which is just a matter of tradition and preference. The New Century Hymnal (1995) completely modernizes all direct addresses to You and Your. The drawback to this is that, in order to complete the rhyme in stanza one, they modify “with thee” to “we see,” which changes the meaning slightly from complete emphasis on God to the agency of those speaking. The NCH also changes “Father” to “Creator,” which actually helps the transition to stanza two because of its focus on creation (and occasionally is not sung because it does not seem to fit with the other stanzas).

Tune:

Sung to the tune FAITHFULNESS by William Runyan, written specifically for this poem and published by Hope Publishing Company. Runyan wrote: “This particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carry over its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answers prayer.”

The tune has a wide appeal across diverse congregations who prefer different musical styles. It has a repeated refrain similar to the repetition in modern praise songs, but retains the structural elements of a traditional hymn.

When/ Why How:

Although sung at any time of the year, it is often chosen for both funerals and weddings as a testament to God’s unchanging nature no matter the circumstance. It could be sung with songs of hope, such as “Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” or hymns of grief and comfort such as “Be Still My Soul.” If one wants to focus on the greatness of God, John F. Wilson created a medley in which he paired this hymn with “Great is the Lord.” Cindy Berry also has a creative medley of “Great is Thy Faithfulness” partnered with “My Jesus, I Love Thee” in 4/4 time.

Jasmine Smart,
Hymnary.org

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Psalms and Hymns to the Living God (2023), p.246

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Instances

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Piano/Organ Great Is Thy Faithfulness Three Gospel Favorites for Organ Gather Twogether More Piano/Organ...
Choral FAITHFULNESS Great Is Thy Faithfulness GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS More Choral...
Instrumental HE'S ALWAYS BEEN FAITHFUL GUITAR HYMNAL, THE (with CD) BRASS ACCOMPANIMENTS FOR HYMNSINGING More Instrumental...
Handbells GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS TODAY'S SONGS AND HYMNS FOR BELLS More Handbells...

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