Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Great is Thy Faithfulness

As Christians, we often talk about having a "life verse." A "life verse" is some Scripture that God tends to use over and over as we face trials, learn new lessons, and grow in our Christian walks. Like many Christians, I have more than one life verse, and it is rather hard for me to single it down to one.

In my first year of following Christ, I remember that God used the words of Luke 12:11-12 "'Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.'" I knew that, if Christ promised the Holy Spirit's help to the disciples when they went before magistrates and were tortured, surely I did not need to fear telling my classmates and family about Christ! Another verse God has used was John 14:6- "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" I spent a few years of my Christian life in a Disciples of Christ church, and I was having to take a stand before my family as I explained why I could not stay in a church that did not hold to the exclusivity of Christ. When I come across those verses today, my mind invariably runs back to how God used these verses practically in my life.

I also know that many of us have "life hymns." There is one hymn in particular that God has used over and over in various situations and trials, and that hymn is "Great is Thy Faithfulness":

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!

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!

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!

Words: Thomas O. Chisholm
Music: William M. Runyan
Words & Music © 1923, Ren. 1951 by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188.


God has used this hymn, and every time I sing it or hear it, I remember specific trials God has brought me through. I remember, while in college and grad-school, desiring to work at the Southern Seminary library full-time but wondering how God would work out my living situation and transportation. I would sing this hymn every day, and I trusted that if God wanted me to work at the Seminary, God would work out everything I needed. The evening I was offered my current job, I sang that hymn to God with great joy in my heart! It turns out that I was able to buy a condo on the street I considered the best place for me to live. It was for a reasonable price, right on the bus routes, and, right before I bought it, it was announced that a grocery was to be built on my street, the lack of which was the only drawback I saw.

Earlier, while a freshman in college, I had a liberal religion professor who was telling my class that the Bible was not completely inerrant because the Gospels contradicted one another. This actually caused a time of doubt in my mind, which greatly troubled me because I did not know how to respond to these accusations. At church that Sunday, we sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and, as I prayed through the texts in question, I was either able to see the professor's misunderstandings right away or I found some commentary that cleared up the issues.

This past summer, my wallet was stolen from my purse as I got off the bus. Guess what we song we sang the next Lord's Day? And then there was late last year, when God ripped what had become an idol out of my hands. Yes, we sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" both in church that week and in Seminary chapel! Then there was the recent Wednesday night that we sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" at prayer meeting, and the next morning was one of those "everything is going wrong that can go wrong" mornings. Not only did this song keep my focus on things above and keep things in proper perspective, but providentially this post was posted over on the Reformed Baptist Fellowship blog that very morning. Then there are times when I start to complain inwardly about something in God's providence, and immediately after I hear this song. It is used not only to encourage me but to humble and convict me as well!

As Pastor Jim said in a sermon recently, we need to focus on the "Who" and not the "why" (or the "how.") This song reminds me of that very truth!


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