Great Is Thy Faithfulness Lyrics
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness" is one of the best-loved hymns of the 20th century. Written in 1923 by Thomas Chisholm — a Kentucky-born Methodist minister and prolific poet — and set to music the same year by William Runyan, it draws directly on Lamentations 3:22–23. The hymn grew out of Chisholm's steady, daily experience of God's provision, an idea captured in its much-loved refrain, "morning by morning new mercies I see." In the United States, the original 1923 version entered the public domain in 2019.
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 wilt be. 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! 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. 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!
History
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness" was written by Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866–1960), born in Franklin, Kentucky. Before entering the ministry, Chisholm worked as a schoolteacher, a newspaper editor, and an insurance agent, and he was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1903. He was an unusually prolific poet — he wrote more than 1,200 poems over his life — and he made a deliberate habit of weaving Scripture through his verse while steering clear of sentimental themes.
He wrote the text of this hymn in 1923. The same year, William Marion Runyan (1870–1957) composed the tune FAITHFULNESS for it in Baldwin City, Kansas, and the pairing of Chisholm's words with Runyan's melody is the version congregations sing today. The hymn is rooted in Lamentations 3:22–23 — "...his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" — which supplies both the title and the substance of the refrain.
What sets the hymn apart from many others is its origin. It didn't come out of a single dramatic moment of rescue or grief. Chisholm wrote it from his ongoing, daily experience of God's provision. Despite a modest income across his various trades, he reflected that he had known "many wonderful displays of His providing care." The hymn turns that steady, undramatic faithfulness into something a congregation can sing.
Cultural Significance
For a hymn written in the 1920s, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" spread remarkably widely, and it has become a staple of worship across many denominations. Its appeal is partly in its subject: where many beloved hymns turn on a moment of crisis or conversion, this one celebrates the ordinary, repeated faithfulness of God — "morning by morning new mercies I see." That theme of constancy gives it a place at quiet Sunday services and major occasions alike.
The hymn is often associated with the Billy Graham crusades of the mid-20th century, where the soloist George Beverly Shea frequently sang it; it's sometimes described as the crusades' unofficial theme, and that connection helped carry it to international audiences. Whatever the exact path of its popularity, the hymn has long outgrown any single setting, and the refrain in particular has become one of the most recognizable lines in 20th-century hymnody.
Memorizing Great Is Thy Faithfulness
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness" is a rewarding hymn to commit to memory, and for choir and congregational singers the payoff is concrete — knowing it by heart means you can watch the director, blend with your section, and sing with your eyes up instead of buried in the hymnal. Several features of the hymn make memorizing it easier, and each one lines up with how Lines works:
- The refrain is your anchor. Because the refrain returns after every verse, it's the single most repeated piece of the hymn. Learn "Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!" first and you already hold a large share of the words — then you only have to add the verses around it.
- Each verse is a chunk. The verses are short and self-contained. Learn them one at a time rather than as a single long passage, and the hymn becomes a handful of small, manageable units instead of one daunting block.
- The melody cues the line. The tune's shape carries forward information about the next word, so the melody itself prompts each opening line. Singing the words rather than reading them silently gives your memory a strong sequence to ride on.
- Lean on the imagery. The hymn is full of vivid hooks — "summer and winter," "morning by morning," the new mercies that arrive with each day. Concrete images stick better than abstract phrasing, so use them as cues to trigger the lines around them.
- Space it out. Returning to the hymn over several short sessions, with sleep in between, is what consolidates the verse order — far more effective than one long cram the night before a service.
Lines is built around exactly this approach. Its five progressive practice modes walk you from recognizing the words to producing them from memory, one chunk at a time, on a spacing schedule that consolidates the sequence between sessions. Start with the refrain, add the verses one by one, and you'll have the whole hymn ready to sing without the hymnal.
Memorize with Lines
Want to learn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and other classic hymns by heart? Download Lines, our iOS app designed to help you memorize and retain lyrics through five progressive practice modes, chunking, and spaced practice. Perfect for choir singers, worship leaders, and anyone who wants to sing the verses with their eyes up.