Songs of Encouragement: Great is Thy Faithfulness
By Kellye Carmack
“Great is Thy faithfulness.” I’ve sung those words countless times throughout my life. It’s one of the first hymns I remember learning in church when I was a child. Hearing it today reminds me of singing it in church so many years ago. Every Sunday my family would find our regular spot in the sanctuary, and I would settle into the wooden pew, my feet dangling off the edge as I waited for the service to begin. The piano would begin to play and the choir rose to their feet, hymnals poised in front of them. Our music director would dance his hands through the air as the sanctuary filled with the sound of those familiar words. “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father there is no shadow of turning with Thee.” I learned the lyrics quickly. Singing them as often as we did helped me to form a better understanding of God and His character. A sweet truth gradually solidified in my mind:
He is a faithful, compassionate God.
More than thirty years after first hearing it, “Great is Thy Faithfulness” still reminds me that God is always faithful. It has helped me in seasons when my circumstances make me feel as though He is anything but faithful. Singing it in my darkest moments has helped me see the light of His mercy and compassion. During years of infertility there have been many times I have sat on my bathroom floor, negative pregnancy test in hand trying to push the words of this hymn out of my mouth between heavy sobs and cries. My voice shakes as I whisper the words, “Grace for today and bright hope for tomorrow/ Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside” while feeling the emptiness of my closed womb. My dirty bathroom floor is a far cry from the polished pews where I sat and sang so many years ago. And unlike singing it as a child, today I sometimes have to fight to believe it. When I do, it beckons me back to a place of trusting and believing God. It reminds me that God is still working. That He is moving in ways I cannot see or comprehend and that He is working everything for my good.
Even when I cannot see it, He is still a faithful, compassionate God.
My pastor has been preaching through the book of Genesis and God’s faithfulness has been a theme throughout the text. During a recent sermon, he spoke of how God’s invisible hand is always present protecting, guiding, and blessing us. I started to think about the ways God has been faithful to me in my marriage. For so long, infertility and miscarriages have filled up so much space in our lives that it’s been hard to see anything else. As I reflected on almost seven years of marriage, I saw evidence of God’s faithfulness in one turn after another. In that time He has done a deep work in my heart of repairing and healing years of brokenness and hurt. He has chipped away at my legalistic, rule-oriented approach to myself (and others), allowing me to rest more fully in the victory of Christ. He has given me the gift of time—time that I’ve been able to use for ministry, personal growth, friendships, and serving our church. He has also filled our days with good and pleasant gifts. We have explored our city, played card games at local coffee spots, and gone on countless date nights.
I can look back on my barren years and see this: He has been a faithful, compassionate God.
The hymns we sing in our childhood — and the ones you teach your children— plant a seed that can produce fruit throughout our lives. “Great is Thy Faithfulness” has helped me bear the fruits of love, joy, peace, and faithfulness even when the season I’m in feels barren and dry. Singing hymns can spur us on in perseverance as they draw our wandering minds back in the direction of trusting and following God.
Singing hymns reminds us that God was, is, and always will be a faithful, compassionate God.
Kellye Carmack is the Women’s Ministry Director for Practical Shepherding. She has an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies and a master’s degree in Biblical Counseling. She served as a missionary in Western Europe for two years helping to share the hope of Christ with women in difficult situations. While in seminary, she met her husband Craig and they are both on staff at their church in Louisville, KY. She loves helping women discover the unique ways God has gifted them to serve the church.