“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.
“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!” Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath 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.
“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!” Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided— “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!
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, with ten thousand beside!
“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!” Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided— “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!
I lost my baby through miscarriage this week. The Lord had put this song in my heart since the day I found out I was pregnant and I needed to read it tonight as my heart would still not give it up. The words are such encouragement at this sad time and this song has gone from being one that I use to just mumble along to in a bid to please the elderly in our church to a song that has cut through every emotion, resonating with me and filling my soul with hope. May I keep singing this song with such conviction for years to come. I finally connect with the meaning of it.
Jul12018
Theresa
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
I just want to thank You Lord for seeing another beautiful day. Love this hymn.
Jun232018
Patience
Boston, MA, United States
Praise the Lord. We thank You.
Jun202018
Ann
Lagos, Benue, Nigeria
I love this. My brother is going to try it on the piano and many of his faithful joys would come upon us each day of our lives!
Jun202018
Stephannie Stennett
Kingston, Jamaica
Let us be thankful for the small blessings, that we are unaware of, and keep believing in the grace of God.
Jun192018
Alejandrina Brito
Oak Creek, Wisconsin, United States
I just want to thank the Lord for His faithfulness, that even when we are unaware He is working on our behalf.
Let me always be aware of His presence.
Jun182018
Ratnakar Barla
Baleshwar, Near Mitrapur, India
Praise the Lord... Glory to Jesus.
Jun172018
Josh
Amen! Praise You Lord for Your faithfulness!!
Jun172018
Kelly Ross
Taylors, South Carolina, United States
Today we celebrate our Fathers in the US. I woke up this morning thinking about my own father and grandfathers who have passed on and my two sons who are now fathers themselves. As I thanked God for the blessing of these Godly men I was reminded of His faithfulness and that He is Father to the fatherless too, and through Him all of these blessings flow! Thank You kind Father for Your never ending faithfulness that we so little deserve. I love You faithful Father!
Although we are unfaithful, God is faithful. Lamentations 3:23b says, "Great is Your faithfulness." The chorus of a well-known hymn on God's faithfulness (Hymns, #19) says, "'Great is Thy faithfulness!' 'Great is Thy faithfulness!' / Morning by morning new mercies I see; / All I have needed Thy hand has provided—/ 'Great is Thy faithfulness,' Lord, unto me!" We may understand what the Bible says and what this hymn says about God's faithfulness either in a natural way or in a spiritual way. When you sing this hymn, how do you understand the word faithfulness? If you understand God's faithfulness in a natural way, you may think that He is faithful primarily in the matter of material provisions or physical blessings. When some say that God is faithful, they mean that He is faithful to take care of their material needs. However, in 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul says, "God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." God is faithful in this matter, but He may not be faithful to provide you a large house or a well-paying job. I would not deny the fact that God is faithful in caring for our welfare. My point is that God's faithfulness is not according to our natural understanding.
Consider the sufferings of the apostle Paul. He was called, commissioned, burdened, and sent by God, but wherever he went he had troubles. For example, as soon as he began to preach Christ, he began to suffer persecution. He even had to escape from Damascus by being lowered down the wall in a basket. Does this mean that God was not faithful to Paul? No, it means that God's faithfulness is not according to our natural understanding.
When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we might have expected to have peace and blessing. But instead we might have had many troubles and might have lost our security, our health, or our possessions. When some Christians experience such things, they may question God's faithfulness and ask why He did not prevent hardships from happening to them.
We need to realize that in allowing us to have troubles, God is faithful in His purpose to turn us from idols and bring us back to Himself. Our peace, safety, health, and possessions may become idols to us, and God is faithful to take these things away so that we may drink of Him as the fountain of living waters. If our house or our possessions become idols to us, we drink of them and not of God. God's faithfulness is a matter of dealing with these idols and causing us to drink of Him.
God is faithful in leading us into His economy, and His economy is for us to drink Christ, to eat Christ, to enjoy Christ, to absorb Christ, and to assimilate Christ that God may have His increase with us to fulfill His economy. This is God's faithfulness.
Instead of drinking of God as the fountain of living waters, Israel drank of their idols. Therefore, God used the Babylonians to deal with these idols and also to destroy Jerusalem and even the temple, which had become an idol to them. We need to see that we are not better than Israel. Anything can become an idol to us. But God is faithful in fulfilling His economy. In His faithfulness He deals with our idols that we may drink of Him. We all need to drink of God as the fountain of living waters, receiving Christ into us and assimilating Him, so that He may increase for the fulfillment of God's economy to have His expression through His counterpart.
Whereas God is faithful, we are neither faithful nor chaste but go to many other husbands. After failing God, we may receive some mercy and grace and therefore repent and weep, saying, "How pitiful I am! For a long time I have not loved the Lord very much, and I have not attended the meetings." While we are repenting and weeping, God is rejoicing. However, if we repent and weep too much, even our repentance may become an idol. We may testify in a meeting, saying that we have thoroughly repented to God. But this may be a matter of self-boasting and be a self-made idol. Therefore, after repenting, we should begin to drink of the living waters, praising God, giving thanks to Him for everything, and enjoying Him. This is what God wants. God is not interested in anything other than our enjoyment of Christ.
Jeremiah's speaking in Lamentations 3:22-26 is another pattern of prophesying: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." Jeremiah told us that it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. This is not foretelling but blessing, well-speaking. He told us that the mercies, the compassions, of the Lord are new every morning. We need to learn to prophesy in this way. Jeremiah told the Lord, "Great is thy faithfulness." There is a well-known hymn based upon this verse (Hymns, #19). Jeremiah also said that the Lord was his portion. It is marvelous that there was a prophet in the Old Testament who knew that the Lord was his portion. When we tell others that the Lord is our portion, we are speaking the Lord to them.
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Wolcott, CT, United States
Sorry for your loss, Bethany.
Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom
I lost my baby through miscarriage this week. The Lord had put this song in my heart since the day I found out I was pregnant and I needed to read it tonight as my heart would still not give it up. The words are such encouragement at this sad time and this song has gone from being one that I use to just mumble along to in a bid to please the elderly in our church to a song that has cut through every emotion, resonating with me and filling my soul with hope. May I keep singing this song with such conviction for years to come. I finally connect with the meaning of it.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
I just want to thank You Lord for seeing another beautiful day. Love this hymn.
Boston, MA, United States
Praise the Lord. We thank You.
Lagos, Benue, Nigeria
I love this. My brother is going to try it on the piano and many of his faithful joys would come upon us each day of our lives!
Kingston, Jamaica
Let us be thankful for the small blessings, that we are unaware of, and keep believing in the grace of God.
Oak Creek, Wisconsin, United States
I just want to thank the Lord for His faithfulness, that even when we are unaware He is working on our behalf.
Let me always be aware of His presence.
Baleshwar, Near Mitrapur, India
Praise the Lord... Glory to Jesus.
Amen! Praise You Lord for Your faithfulness!!
Taylors, South Carolina, United States
Today we celebrate our Fathers in the US. I woke up this morning thinking about my own father and grandfathers who have passed on and my two sons who are now fathers themselves. As I thanked God for the blessing of these Godly men I was reminded of His faithfulness and that He is Father to the fatherless too, and through Him all of these blessings flow! Thank You kind Father for Your never ending faithfulness that we so little deserve. I love You faithful Father!