The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22–23, NRSVue
Many famous hymns come with a dramatic story behind them. “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” does not.
Thomas Chisholm was born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1866. He served for a short time as a Methodist minister, until poor health pushed him out of the pulpit. He went on to sell insurance. In 1923, while living in Vineland, New Jersey, he wrote the words of the hymn. Decades later, in a 1955 letter, he said no special circumstances lay behind it.
No shipwreck. No miracle. A man with a modest job and uncertain health looked back over his ordinary days and saw God’s faithfulness in every one.
Chisholm drew his words from Lamentations, a book written among the ruins of Jerusalem. The writer had lost almost everything, and he still found mercy waiting in the morning.
You may be waiting for something big to happen before you feel encouraged. Look smaller today. You woke up. Someone loves you. You have been carried through days you once feared you would not survive. God’s mercy often arrives in plain clothes.
Yesterday’s failures did not use up today’s mercy. This morning’s supply is new.
Prayer
Faithful God, open my eyes to your mercy in ordinary things. Thank you for carrying me this far. Give me what I need for today. Amen.
Today’s step
Write down three small mercies from the last 24 hours.
The story: History of Hymns: Great Is Thy Faithfulness, UMC Discipleship
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.