Thought for the Week: The story behind ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’

Thomas Chisholm was born in a log cabin in the southern US state of Kentucky. As a young man he was converted to Christ under the evangelistic labours of H.C. Morrison.

Thomas’ health was never very stable, and he often found himself unwell. That meant it was very hard for him to keep a good job, and as a result he held many varied work positions.

But through all the ups and downs of his life God blessed and provided bountifully for Thomas and his family, and he discovered new blessings from God every day.

As he passed through all these very trying experiences, the Old Testament book of Lamentations, chapter three, became very precious to him, especially the words “his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (verses 22-23).

After 30 years of serving Christ and proving the Lord’s faithful provision, Thomas Chisholm wrote a poem to express his personal testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness to him.

In all, Thomas wrote 1,200 poems in his lifetime, and he later said that there was no great story that surrounded the writing of ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’.

It was first published as a hymn in 1923 by William Runyan in his private song pamphlet.

At the time that the prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations the nation of Israel was facing a great crisis. The city of Jerusalem had just fallen to their enemies the Babylonians. All around there was desolation and destruction.

But it is in this tragic setting that Jeremiah speaks of the greatness of God’s faithfulness. There is a great message of encouragement for you here right at the centre of the book of Lamentations.

Because even in these uncertain times, with the cost of living is rising so dramatically, there is still great hope.

Why? Because of the greatness of God’s faithfulness to you. It is important to see and understand that for the child of God there is never a day that you live when you do not experience, in great abundance, the faithfulness of God. It doesn’t matter how bleak the outlook is, humanly speaking. God will be faithful to you.

It is a contradiction to speak of God being unfaithful. It is true that you may have been unfaithful to God, but God is never unfaithful to His children. In fact, one of the reasons the Lord allows difficult circumstances in your life is so that you can prove in a greater measure how faithful He is to you.

That is why Thomas Chisholm wrote this hymn, because through all the trials of life the Lord taught him to see: “Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”