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“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! |
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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. |
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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! |
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© 1923. Ren. 1951 Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188 www.hopepublishing.com All rights reserved. Used by permission. |
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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.
Piano Hymns
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Yenagoa, Bayelsa, Nigeria
And I woke up this morning filled with His mercies and love. Great is thy faithfulness oh Lord my father. You changeth not, thank You for providing all that I have needed. My strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Georgia, United States
Sister Janet, Our Father must have been speaking to both of us this morning because I too woke up with "great is thy faithfulness" in mind as I woke from my sleep on the same day. How awesome and great is He to show us His love and compassion toward all of us.
Wellington, New Zealand
This song came to me as I was reading GOD'S WORDS this afternoon and I just sang it out loud. I do not know the whole song but the first lines just gives me that joy of really wanting to praise Him no matter what. Then I had to check it out and see if I find the lyrics. Blessed be Thy Holy Name, I found more than I bargained for as that saying goes. May all you out there also be blessed with faithfulness and cheerful hearts. God Bless you all.
Fredriksted USVI
As I woke this morning, this song came to mind and I immediately sang it as a part of my worship. "Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth" are words of particular meaning to me for it's because of His faithfulness and love that I'm still here relishing in His presence. I pray that I remind as faithful to Him, as He is to me. Great is His faithfulness.
Lagos, Nigeria
“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness! even when its seems all hope is lost.."Great is Thy faithfulness". I will bounce back. Am sure of that.
Minneapolis, MN, United States
Jesus is Calling.
It has been awhile. I slept really solid last night. I woke up and thought of the phrase, "Jesus is Calling". It is a devo my wife and I have used in the past. It almost felt like Your personal call to me this morning as I lay in bed before my normal wake time! I love that You are always with me. Am I taking advantage of Your presence? Am I enjoying my coffee meeting with You? It feels like I have not tapped into You in way too long. I have been reading off an on my chronological journey through the Bible. But not soaking in like I have been accustomed to. I even opened up the deck door. I wanted to hear Your creation. The birds may have to compete a bit with the rumble of the cars on 93rd Ave. But the look of the leafed out trees and the filling out Hosta, the smell of the day. Even the gray of the premorning light. I purposely left the lights off. I miss these times. It sounds like a Psalm of remembrance. It is all good, the memories of Your faithfulness.
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
What a blessing to my heart to see so many uplifting messages from Christian brothers and sisters all over the world! Our God is indescribable and worthy to be praised. I woke up overwhelmed with worries and this hymn came to mind. The words renewed my mind and realigned my thoughts to the Amazing God, Trustworthy Caring Father. Great is His Faithfulness. Let's run this earthly race to His Glory. Take heart God is Good!
Abuja, FCT, Nigeria
Though the nights and waitings could tarry but God will always be Faithful to His own - to bring them to an expected end. Today, I sing a song of Praise and Thanksgiving and I say, 'Great Is thy Faithfulness '!
Rockford, IL, United States
This reminds me every time of God's love and forgiveness for me. I will never deserve Him but He will always hold my hand. My appreciation will never be enough.
I'm so thankful for Him and His Mercy.
His sweet spirit calms my heart.
FCT, Abuja, Nigeria
God's faithfulness can cover His people irrespective of evil plans of the enemies of gospel.
God has been greatly distroying the plan of turning Nigeria to Islam country, by making the planners sick all through and never to recover.
God is faithful to protect His people as we seek His irrespective of the enemies weapons Is54:17