Thomas Obadiah Chisolm was a school teacher and a prolific poet born in the 1860s. He wrote the text of the hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. In his later years when he? suffered poor health and had low income, he continued to say, “ I must not fail to record … 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, Chisolm sent a collection of his poems to his good friend William Runyan, who was a musician associated with the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. After reading this poem, a prayer came from Runyan’s heart: “that my tune might carry over its message in a worthy way.”
This hymn, a joint effort of God’s people in the past, continues to touch our lives today. It came not from great tragedies in life but from everyday routine. It brings with it a call of utmost need for us right now to remember God’s unfailing, faithful provisions each day in our daily routine.
The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a great dark cloud over the world. Lives have been taken. Lives have been greatly affected. Lives are forever changed. However, the question is not how many are affected by it, but how many continue to see the unchanging creator God behind all these clouds. He is not dead. Every morning, the sun continues to rise. It is a new day. The sun God created is still shining.
Have all our burdens weighed us down to a discouraging position of heart and mind, that we find ourselves in fear, in loneliness, and in hopelessness in this time of the pandemic? Are we wearing our masks each day to cover the slow deterioration of our faith in God?
Lamentations 3:22–23, which was written in a time of great difficulty, says:
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.
Therefore, let us remember God’s new mercies each day. May these keep us from being downtrodden and consumed by all that we are going through. May we not choose to walk in the path of the sinking sand of problems. God holds the world he created in his hands. Through changing seasons, he remains unchanged. In his great love, his compassion continues to overflow into our lives. Let us put our trust in him. Truly, all we have needed as pardoned sinners, his hand has provided. Great is God’s faithfulness to us … to me.
For REFLECTION
- Are there seeds of doubt growing in your life?
- Pause and reflect on the text of the hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. Take time to count the blessings that our faithful God continues to show in your life.
