There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
How amazing it is to worship a God who never changes, a God who's always constant as purest unmitigated act. How amazing it is to know that God's compassions never fail! How amazing it is to know that God's track record of faithfulness is unblemished, and that this gives us absolute assurance that his track record of faithfulness will be flawless tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and so on, ad infinitum!
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!
God's faithfulness truly is great. But to be honest, I don't see God's new mercies morning by morning. I usually don't see much that's pleasant in the morning (and I don't drink coffee). How different my days might be if I resolved to greet every morning by finding a new gift from God!
Summer and winter, 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.
The great God who is faithful to us is the great God who sustains the regularity of nature, the great God on whose constant activities all 'laws of nature' depend. The constant course of the planets and stars in their grand revolutions, marking off cosmic time by definite periods - that is the faithfulness of God. The seasons on which we rely as we consider the patterns of the years to come - that, too, is the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God is the guarantee of an orderly cosmos rather than a disorderly chaos; the same faithfulness of God that gives us a cosmos is a testimony on the grandest scale to the faithfulness, mercy, and love of God.
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!
Great is God's faithfulness - but not so much with mine. All I have needed, God's hand has provided; great is his faithfulness unto me. But I have a problem. My faith isn't terribly strong, I'll admit. And if there's one thing that comes difficult to me, it's trusting God. I have a very difficult time saying, "God will provide." When I say that to myself, the other voice inside me says, "Yeeeeeeeah, like that's gonna happen." And I have a tough time recognizing what I do have as a gift from God; I'm much more naturally inclined to look at it as the product of purely human striving. I pray that God might give me eyes to see all things as his providence.
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!
God is faithful to pardon my sin - and I've had plenty to pardon. God is faithful to give me peace - not a temporary peace, a peace that succumbs to the vicissitudes of day-to-day life, but rather a peace that outlasts them all because it runs so much deeper than it all. And God's peace runs so much deeper than them all because it springs from his "own dear presence" that cheers us and guides us. God's dear presence can offer strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow - and I need plenty of both. The song proclaims that these five things - pardon, peace, presence, strength, and hope - are all already mine in Christ - and so are ten thousand others! I can scarcely even begin to imagine the other riches God has in store.
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!
At the Orientation Worship Service, I think it was, several of the new students stood to bear testimony of what God is doing in their lives. And one really stuck out. A man from India told of how he came to America to study here, and when he arrived in the airport, he had a certain small amount of money - and spent every last bit of it before he even got out of the airport. And he detailed how, despite all apparent possibility or sense, he relied on God every step of the way and got gift after gift. He said that he has no idea where all the money to pay for his education here came from, but by the provision of God, it came indeed. Oh for the faith to depend on God that totally! Oh for the faith to be at peace in the midst of trials and know that God will provide, whether I can see how or not! I am by nature obsessed with planning for the future; I'm obsessed with being in control so as not to have the rug swept out from underneath my feet. But the lesson I most need to learn - especially here at seminary, where my financial situation is hardly sturdy by any human reckoning - is to trust in God to provide a way for me to fulfill his will, whyever it is he's called me here.
Because great is his faithfulness. Great is his faithfulness! Morning by morning, new mercies I'll see. All I have need of, his hand will provide. Great is his faithfulness, even to me.
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