Kenneth W. Osbeck, author of 101 Hymn Stories, writes, “Of the many gospel hymns written in recent times on the theme of God’s goodness and faithfulness, this hymn stands out like a beacon light.”

            Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was born in a humble log cabin in Franklin, Kentucky on July 29, 1866.  Without a high school education or any advanced training, he began a career as a school teacher at the age of sixteen in the same country school house where he had received his own elementary training.  At the age of twenty-one, Chisholm became the associate editor of his home town weekly newspaper, The Franklin Favorite.  Six years later, Dr. H. C. Morrison caught his attention during a revival meeting and Thomas began seeking spiritual things.  Not long after, Chisholm sought to become a minister of the gospel, but was hindered because of poor health.  After 1909 he became a life insurance agent in Winona Lake and later in Vineland, New Jersey.  Thomas Chisholm retired in 1953 and spent his remaining years at the Methodist Home for the Aged in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

            Mr. Chisholm is said to have written more than 1,200 poems, of which 800 were published.  A number of these poems have become prominent hymn texts (A New Creature, O To Be Like Thee!, Only In Thee).

            Great Is Thy Faithfulness was written when Chisholm was 57 years old.  He insisted that there were no special circumstances which caused its writing—just his experience and Bible truth.  In a letter dated 1941, Thomas writes, “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.” 

            In 1923, Chisholm sent several of his poems to W. M. Runyan, editor with the Hope Publishing Company.  Runyan wrote, “This particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carry over its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answered prayer.”

            Great Is Thy Faithfulness draws its inspiration from an exceedingly sad portion of Scripture.  God’s “weeping prophet” Jeremiah sits among the rubble of what once was glorious Jerusalem—

“How lonely sits the city that was full of people!  She has become like a widow who was once great among the nations!  She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer!” (Lamentations 1:1).

     
     But in his despair, Jeremiah turns his heart to God:
 

“Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.  Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.  This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.  The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:19-23).

     The first verse of Chisholm’s lyrics brings the message of James to poetic life:

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him…Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:12,16-17).

       John reveals for all of God’s children that “four living creatures” surround the throne of heaven, “each one of them having six wings…full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God, the Almighty, who was and is and who is to come’” (Revelation 4:5-8).  Indeed, “as Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.”  As I sing the first verse of Great Is Thy Faithfulness, I am reminded of Psalm 136.  The psalmist recounts Jehovah’s goodness to Israel throughout her history by repeating twenty-six times, “For His lovingkindess (mercy, faithful love) is everlasting!”  “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Psalm 136:1).  By God’s grace, that is what those who believe it now will sing in heaven for eternity.

            The second verse praises God’s faithfulness because of the unchanging nature of our physical world.  Our Creator decreed “in the beginning…‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years’” (Genesis 1:1,14).  As David would later write, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2).  The sun, moon, and stars—as well as the seasons—“join with all nature in manifold witness” to the great faithfulness, mercy, and love of God.  Certainly be thankful for that this month; but remember it year-round.

            The greatest blessings of all are captured masterfully in Chisholm’s third verse.  All people can readily enjoy the blessings of God’s physical creation.  “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).  But the “morning star” only arises in hearts that belong to Christ (2 Peter 1:19).  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:3-4).  Chisholm puts these spiritual blessings into verse: pardon for sin, an enduring peace, God’s own presence in our lives to cheer and guide, strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow.  “Blessings all mine, with ten-thousand beside!”  When the child of God truly lives in the light of this glorious understanding, he cannot help but say with David, “My cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5).

            Let me encourage you to truly and honestly take these words to heart this month.  Begin each day with the blessed realization, “morning by morning new mercies I see.”  Amen.