Common Ground Song 43 ‘Great is thy faithfulness’
Words: Thomas O Chisholm / Music: William W Runyan © Hope Publishing Co
YouTube recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ox4es1jo8
Featured image: Four seasons. © joiseyshowaa / Flickr.com
This hymn, originating in the USA in 1923, has over the last century become one of the best-known across all denominations of the Christian church. So much so, that unlike many other popular hymns and songs, there is remarkable consistency in the lyrics. No-one seems to have been tempted to alter and ‘improve’ them. Jubilate Hymns, who extensively rewrote many classic hymns in the 1980s, did make several changes (not only replacing ‘thou’ with ‘you’), but that version has not achieved any notable following. And not only in the English-speaking world: the website singpraises.net notes translations into German, Dutch, French and Spanish, and there may be others.
The faithfulness of God expressed in the three verses and chorus of the hymn covers his unchanging nature, his provision of good things, his loving mercy and forgiveness, the balance of nature through the seasons, and the peace and hope that trust in God brings. The inspiration for the hymn seems to have been a few verses in the Old Testament: ‘Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ (Lamentations 3:21-23).
What is remarkable is that the previous twenty verses of the chapter are a list of all the forms of suffering that the writer has endured: physical and mental health problems, poverty and the taunts of his enemies. Yet despite those, he can still praise God for his compassion and faithfulness. This remarkable ability to continue to believe in and praise the Creator is what distinguishes people of true faith from others.
It is worth noting that because of its roots in the Jewish scriptures, this is, strictly, a Deist rather than a Christian hymn, as neither Jesus nor the Holy Spirit gets a mention. It is, largely, a hymn of praise to God the Creator, and even the reference in the last verse to God pardoning sin is something that other Abrahamic faiths also believe. One of the comments to the recording linked above was, “Jewish believer - this today is a reminder! Almighty God is faithful.”
Theological arguments can be laid aside when those who believe in this loving God come together to celebrate the core of what it mean to be a believer: that there is a creator, not merely a ‘force’ or ‘supreme being’ but a loving personality that seeks always to do good for the creatures he has willed into being. He asks merely that in return for this provision, we show the same love and concern for each other, whether that is our literal brother and sister, or the people we have never met but with whom we share God’s wonderful world.