God's Faithfulness

On this Thanksgiving weekend, I can’t help but look back over the past year and see the faithful hand of God at work in my life.  God has been faithful to provide when my family needed provision, to reveal his presence in the midst of some great transitions, and to bring peace and help in the middle of some the challenges we have faced. God has brought kept us close as a family, used some very dear friends to walk beside us, and brought some really great new people into our lives.  

Like most people, this past year has been for me a mix of some really good times and some very difficult times.  Honestly, I didn’t always see God or trust him the way I should have.  In retrospect, however, I see much more clearly that, through both the good and bad, God has been with us; God has been faithful; and God has shown himself to be a good God who really does care for his people.  For all of that and more, I am thankful. 

The prophet Jeremiah wrote these words during a time of great difficulty: “Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  (Lamentations 3:22-23)  These words became the basis for the hymn below.  I hope that you too will recognize that whether life is easy or hard; whether good things come or hardship comes; whether or not you are faithful, God is and will always be a faithful God!

Have a great day!  Let’s be thankful! 

Pastor Tim Harris

www.cityvinechurch.org

www.pifny.org

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Thomas O. Chisholm (1923)

Verse 1: "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.

Chorus: "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!

Verse 2: 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.

Verse 3: Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!