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.

According to my friends over at Hymn Talk Twin Talk, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is the second most popular hymn in today’s Evangelical community right after How Great Thou Art. This should come at no surprise, given that it’s packed with praise, adoration, and trinitarian theology. I said it before and I’m going to say it again – hymns are miniature sermons. And “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is no exception to that statement.

In the first verse the author turns his face towards God and calls him “Father.” He knows that God is the source of all life, including his own. The author also establishes a personal relationship with God, calling him “my Father,” as opposed to a generic “Father” or even a collective “our Father” (nothing wrong with the Lord’s Prayer, I’m just making an observation!). He then acknowledges some of God’s eternal characteristics – “Thou changest not… as thou hast been, thou forever wilt be” – echoing Hebrews 13:8.

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!

The chorus, then repeats the opening line of this hymn and emphasizes it on a higher melodic note the second time around: “Great is thy faithfulness, GREAT IS thy faithfulness!” (Hint: both in poetry as well as music, when a line is repeated you gotta pay attention!) Then the author takes the same eternal characteristic from the first stanza and presents it from the perspective of human life: while we are not eternal to witness God’s faithfulness “yesterday, today and forever,” we can still declare “morning by morning new mercies I see.” The chorus then ends on a personal note with the emphasis falling on the first person: All I have needed thy hand hath provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. The Lord is not just faithful in general, he is faithful to each and every one of us – even 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.

In the second stanza the author turns to the created order – the passing of the seasons here on earth, and the cosmic elements – sun, moon, and stars. This is a direct reminder of God’s faithfulness which is displayed in the created order – as time passes, as seasons change God remains the same yesterday, today and forever. In sustaining nature’s course, God is displaying his great faithfulness, mercy, and love towards his creation. Then the chorus resumes the first-person perspective. This means that God is faithful both towards me as an individual, as well as the entire creation as a whole (want to read more on God displaying his faithfulness towards his created order? Try Jonathan Edwards! Here’s a helpful introductory article).

Ok, God is faithful. That’s nice. Why should you care? Why is it important for our Christian faith that God is faithful to us and to his created order? Here’s why – because we are affected by sin and death. Without God’s faithfulness, we would be doomed to eternal damnation. And if this hymn ended on the second verse, we would run into some serious theological heresies. For example, we would run into natural theology and the watchmaker theory. If you don’t have time to read the linked articles, I’ll summarize it for you – natural theology is depicting all of God’s roles and attributes by natural observation. The watchmaker theory claims that once God created the world, he set it in motion and is now sitting back observing it run its course, just like a watchmaker can step away from his watch once he’s finished putting all the pieces together. What’s wrong with these theories? They imply that humans have no need for a God to step into history and redeem us. They imply that we are NOT sinful. But (spoiler alert) we are sinful! We are affected by the fall. We are affected by death. And we can’t save ourselves. Therefore, God’s purpose for his created order is NOT just to sustain it. It is to REDEEM it. How? Let’s sing the third verse:

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!

God is faithful insofar that he kept his promise which he had made to Adam and Eve. After they disobeyed God’s commandments, their relationship to God was affected by their sin. Their life on earth was now marked by their imminent death. And yet, in his love, God wanted to restore their relationship. He made them a promise that one say he will redeem the world from its fallen state. That plan came into fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Through his death and resurrection we now have “pardon for sin.” Hallelujah! Not only are we forgiven, but we are now brought back in the “dear presence” of God himself via the Holy Spirit. That which Adam had broken, Christ restored. Thanks be to God!

The verse does not end with “pardon for sin” and “thine own dear presence.” The author takes a step even further, reminding us that we are still living here on this earth and we need God to sustain us on a daily basis. Therefore, God manifests his faithfulness to us by giving us “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” And we need it! We need it every day.

My piano arrangement begins with a singular melodic line, symbolizing God, the source of all creation and the author of our salvation. Think: “In the beginning, God…” Then on the line that sings “thou changest not” a countermelody joins in, but the melody is not altered. This symbolizes that come what may, God does not change; he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In the second stanza you will hear nature sounds as I used the higher registers of the piano. The ornaments remind you of birds chirping. Finally, before the third verse I modulated down rather than up. Generally modulations take you up, but just as God came DOWN to earth to redeem his people, so will the third verse take you DOWN a half step from the original key. Not only that, the third verse of my piano arrangement also uses full chords, symbolizing the importance that God the Son plays in the plan of salvation. I believe that the third verse of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is the most important theologically, and my piano interpretation shows that in its rich voicing and chordal structure.

At the tail end of the arrangement you will still hear the main melody “echoing” in the highest register, showing that although the song has ended, God exists eternally. His faithfulness endures forever.