Scripture Verse

His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22–23

Introduction

portrait
William M. Runyan (1870–1957)

Words: Tho­mas O. Chis­holm, 1923.

Music: Faith­ful­ness (Run­yan) Will­iam M. Run­yan, 1923 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Thomas O. Chisholm (1866–1960)

According to Chis­holm, there were no spe­cial cir­cum­stanc­es which caused its writ­ing—just his ex­pe­ri­ence and Bi­ble truth. The hymn first ap­peared in Songs of Sal­va­tion and Ser­vice, 1923, com­piled by Will­iam Run­yan. It is the un­of­fi­cial school hymn of Moo­dy Bible Ins­ti­tute, Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, with which Run­yan was as­so­ci­at­ed for a num­ber of years.

Runyan wrote the mu­sic spe­ci­fic­al­ly for these words: This par­ti­cu­lar po­em held such an ap­peal that I prayed most ear­nest­ly that my tune might car­ry its mes­sage in a wor­thy way, and the su­bs­equent his­to­ry of its use in­di­cates that God an­swered pray­er.

Lyrics

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 will be.

Refrain

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, u­to 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.

Refrain

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!

Refrain