Great Is Thy Faithfulness

"Great is Thy faithfulness," the opening line begins, and the first verse backs it up with a claim about God's character: "There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not." That wording comes straight from James 1:17 and Lamentations 3, the source of the refrain's "morning by morning new mercies I see."

The verses move from one kind of evidence to another. The second looks outward at creation, where "summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, sun, moon and stars in their courses above" all "join with all nature in manifold witness" to God's faithfulness, in the spirit of Psalm 19:1. The third turns inward and lists what has been given: "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."

The refrain keeps the whole thing personal. "All I have needed Thy hand hath provided" restates Philippians 4:19, and the line closes on "Lord, unto me," so the praise belongs to the singer's own experience. Michael W. Smith's version sings the three verses with the refrain after each and again at the end.