Great is thy faithfulness

Rey Lambatin, Choir Director

“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!”

​This is one of those really popular hymns that speak to me. It tells of one of God’s wonderful traits that bring hope and assurance to those who need it. So, understandably, it’s a favorite and widely sung in Christian churches around the world. Oddly though, I don’t remember singing this when I was going to the Catholic masses. I only started singing and playing this when I got involved in the evangelical church that I used to go to in the Philippines. I could still clearly hear in my head how the congregation would sing the chorus with much fervor. And as a choir director, I’ve encountered different choral settings of this hymn - from triumphant to meditative. However, I think because of its melody’s popularity, this becomes one the songs that the message of the words gets lost when we hear or sing it. With the following bit of history of this hymn, I hope that every time we hear the choir sings or we sing this as a congregation, we’ll go back to having a deeper appreciation of this music.

Thomas O. Chisholm, born in Kentucky in 1866, wrote the lyrics of this hymn in 1923. He wrote over 1200 hymns, such as "Living For Jesus," and "O, to be Like Thee." But the hymn we remember the most is "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." Chisholm did not write this hymn because something great and miraculous had taken place in his life. No, he wrote this because over his entire life he had learned to see the greatness of God. At the age of 75, 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."

Chisholm sent the lyrics to William Runyan in Kansas, who was affiliated with both the Moody Bible Institute and Hope Publishing Company. Runyan set the poem to music, and it was published that same year by Hope Publishing Company and became popular among church congregations. Chisholm's lyrics reference the Bible verses of Lamentations 3:22-23.