Great Is Thy Faithfulness

29 Jun Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Read Lamentations 3:22-26
Thought for the Day: God shows each of us mercy daily!

Thomas Chisholm was born in a log cabin in Kentucky during the 19th century. He accepted Christ when he was 27. Although he never received a college or seminary education, he was ordained as a Methodist minister at age 36. Because of health issues, he couldn’t continue his ministry and this resulted in him struggling financially. He once explained it this way, “My income has never been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. But I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.”

With declining health from such a young age, Chisholm might have been excused had he gone through life with a degree of anger or bitterness. Instead, he had a personal relationship with Jesus that gave him strength and a positive attitude every day. He said his favorite verse was from Lamentations, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Rather than making excuses or clinging to negativity, Chisholm learned to stay positive and simply do whatever he could to positively impact others.

Having learned to focus on God’s blessings, Chisholm wrote a poem that is the text for one of our favorite hymns, “Great is Thy Faithfulness”. Whenever we face challenges that confront us we have a choice. Will we focus on what we don’t have or will we focus on God’s faithfulness as we see how Christ gets us through? Just as God shows us mercy, He asks us to see that His faithfulness gives us the opportunity to show mercy ourselves. Rather than dwelling in negativity, we can learn to build bridges as we remember God’s mercy and faithfulness!

In Christ,
Pastors Stan and David