Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father

Author: Thomas O. Chisholm (1923)
Tune: FAITHFULNESS
Published in 112 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Sibelius
Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Instrumental

FAITHFULNESS

Choral

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

Full 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 (may be sung after stanza 3 only):
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. Refrain

3 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! Refrain

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Author: Thomas O. Chisholm

Thomas Obadiah Chisholm (1866-1960) was an American songwriter who wrote several prominent Christian hymns. Thomas O. Chisholm was born in Franklin, Kentucky on July 29, 1866 in a log cabin and became a teacher at age sixteen. Chisholm had a Christian conversion experience at age twenty-seven during a revival in Franklin led by Dr. Henry Clay Morrison. Chisholm served as a Methodist minister for one-year before resigning due to poor health. Chisholm wrote over 1,200 sacred poems over his lifetime, which appeared in many Christian periodicals, and he served as an editor of the Pentecostal Herald in Louisville for a period. In 1909 Chisholm began his career as a life insurance agent in Winona Lake and Vineland, New Jersey. In 1923 at age f… Go to person page >

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Text Information

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
Language: English
Refrain First Line: Great is Thy faithfulness
Copyright: Copyright 1923, renewed 1951 by Hope Publishing
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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

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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Timeline

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Media

Baptist Hymnal 1991 #54
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #556
The United Methodist Hymnal #140
Worship and Rejoice #72
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Instances

Instances (40)TextImageAudioScore
African American Heritage Hymnal #158Image
Baptist Hymnal 1991 #54TextImageAudioScore
Baptist Hymnal 2008 #96TextImage
Celebrating Grace Hymnal #48Image
Celebration Hymnal #139TextImage
Chalice Hymnal #86Text
Church Family Worship #523
Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition #80
Church Hymnary, Fourth Edition #153Text
Complete Anglican Hymns Old & New #254
Complete Mission Praise #200
Evangelical Lutheran Worship #733Image
Hymns for a Pilgrim People #47
Hymns of Faith #39TextImage
Hymns Old and New: New Anglican #186
Lift Every Voice and Sing II: an African American hymnal #189Text
Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #348Image
Lutheran Service Book #809Text
Presbyterian Hymnal #276TextImage
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #556TextImageAudioScore
Rejoice in the Lord #155Text
Renew! #249TextImage
Revival Hymns and Choruses #47
Scripture Song Database #1299
Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal #100
Sing Glory: Hymns, Psalms and Songs for a New Century #39
Sing Joyfully #17TextImage
Sing With Me #194Text
The Christian Life Hymnal #33
The Covenant Hymnal: a worshipbook #78
The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration #43
The New Century Hymnal #423Image
The United Methodist Hymnal #140TextImageAudioScore
The Worshiping Church #60TextImage
Together in Song: Australian Hymn Book II #154
Trinity Hymnal #32Text
Voices United: The Hymn and Worship Book of The United Church of Canada #288Text
With One Voice #771Text
Worship and Rejoice #72TextImageAudioScore
Worship in Song: A Friends Hymnal #22
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