Okay, so this is the first post to kick off 2023, let’s goooo. The hymn for this month is “Great is Thy Faithfulness” so that’s what I’ll start with.

So here’s what I got:

It’s not perfect but it’s half-decent, if one ignores the potato quality of the recording. For a first recording take, this ended up not being too bad and ironically the one that I liked better after the repeat take. I’m still trying to figure out a better setup for recording these things. Currently, my setup involves precariously balancing a phone tripod on upper keys of my keyboard and hoping for the best.

For inspiration, I did listen to two versions of this hymn:

• This version by Dan Musselman (surprised of how many people don’t recognize his name from how often his name pops up in my church’s prayer/DT/reflection Spotify playlists)
• This version by David Andrew

Both gave me some ideas of how to proceed with this. As I said before, I was trying to go for a “Dan Musselman” sorta vibe and play a version of this hymn that one would probably hear in a reflection/prayer playlist or at a wedding. I ended up sitting down with a notebook and listening to both to write down the things that stood out to me. Some of these things included: using arpeggios sparingly and more sustain chords as LH accompaniment, including transition segments between the chorus and the next verse, and having a fondness (observed with both reference versions) for chromatic pivots/jazzy sorta feel. These were all things I kept in mind when I later came up with my own rendition of this hymn, which ended up being a mix of instinctual “as the Spirit leads” playing and some intentional, planned parts (i.e. the transition portions between chorus and verses).

History Behind the Hymn

“Great is Thy Faithfulness” originally was created as a poem in 1923 by schoolteacher and poet, Thomas Chisholm, inspired by Lamentations 3:22, which reads:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV)

Coming from a background of poor health, which handicapped him from doing full-time ministry, Chisholm had pretty challenging life circumstances. Yet, he remained committed to God and wrote many poems during his lifetime, one of which—the aforementioned title—caught the attention of his friend, William Runyan, who was a composer working at the Moody Bible Institute. Runyan would later compose the famous melody associated with this poem.

Even later down the line, Billy Graham would hear this hymn on a radio broadcast and include it as part of his evangelism crusades, allowing the hymn to catch on popularity and gain the well-known status that we know today.

My Thoughts

This is a very sweet hymn. Reading the context about the life of its author and trying to memorize it forced me to pause and think more about the meaning behind its verses. This is probably the most focused I’ve been in trying to really soak in a hymn.

While there’s different lines throughout this hymn that made me pause to think, I wanted to ponder especially on verse 3, which reads:

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 

This verse sums up a lot of truths that personally encourage me. Speaking as a pretty cynical person, very prone to downward spirals and self-pity when I go through times of discouragement or feel really down, there are certain emotion-fueled narratives that sound really loud in my head.

I’m not [blank] enough. I’m too [blank]. Of course, this happened/they reacted like that because I am [blank]. I’m never going to be able to change or be [blank] so why try again?

And so forth. It’s fun.

These thoughts are not true but they certainly feel like they are. One of the ways I try to break out of those narratives is to remind myself of what else is actually true even in those circumstances and what I can give thanks for.

I live my life against the backdrop of having a Heavenly Father who knows my heart completely, where I fall short, and still loves me enough that He bought me a pardon for my sins at a high price.

Thank God, this is a constant truth that doesn’t change with my life’s circumstances. No matter how much I feel like my life sucks or how hard a season in my life may be, God’s love and high regard for me doesn’t change. I still have proof that I am unconditionally loved to always return back to. That’s a truth that can and should bring me enduring peace.

I really want to try and meditate on this truth. I want to repeat it to myself when I feel like it’s true and when I feel like it’s not true. Maybe through this process I can convince myself long enough that it’s true to remember God’s continued faithfulness in my life and get enough strength to get through the day and feel hopeful for the next.

I like how this verse ends with a hopeful note too. From recognizing God’s faithfulness, I can recognize other ways in my life that I’ve been blessed, through how people in my life have shown me love or ways that I’ve been fortunate–things that I can take for granted. I can see that even though life is hard, it is still full of a lot of ample blessings and there’s still so much more to come.

Great indeed is God’s faithfulness to me.