Matthew F. Leighty
Executive Director
"Morning by morning, new mercies I see." Whether someone has lived 50 years or 100 years, there's a daily renewal in walking with the Lord — not just at the start of a new year, but every single day. I love saying those words: “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father.” Every morning when I walk into Worship Anew, I’m reminded of what this hymn looks like in my day — in the faithfulness of our dear ministry team, our beloved volunteers, and those we’re blessed to minister to every day.
“Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Thomas Chisholm penned this beloved hymn in 1923, and it has become one of the most treasured songs in the Christian church. But here’s what makes this hymn so remarkable: Chisholm didn’t write it during a crisis. He wasn’t emerging from tragedy or profound spiritual experience. He wrote it from the middle of a pretty ordinary life, simply reflecting on his daily experience of God’s presence. Chisholm found truth in Lamentations 3:22-23 not because everything was falling apart, but because in the everyday rhythm of life — the ordinary mornings, the unremarkable days — God showed Himself faithful. “Thou changest not,” the hymn declares. When everything else shifts and changes, God remains constant. His compassions don’t fail on ordinary Tuesdays any more than they would not fail in extraordinary crises.
Great is Thy faithfulness. But when the prophet Jeremiah first spoke these words in Lamentations 3, his circumstances couldn’t have been more different from Chisholm’s quiet life. Jeremiah watched Jerusalem fall. He saw the temple destroyed, the people conquered by Babylon, their entire world laid waste. The people he prophesied to didn’t listen, and he stood ostracized and alone because of what God called him to do. He was writing from the ruins. And yet in the midst of that utter devastation, Jeremiah declared:
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV).
Here’s the beautiful truth: whether you’re in Jeremiah’s ruins or Chisholm’s ordinary days, God’s faithfulness remains.
Some of you reading this are facing devastating loss — the first January without your spouse, a diagnosis that changes everything, a loneliness that feels like exile. Others are simply facing another Tuesday, another ordinary morning. God’s mercies are new for both.
Great is Thy faithfulness. “All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.” When you’ve lived 70, 80, or 90 years, you know this truth in ways younger people are still learning. You’ve seen God provide what you needed in ways you couldn’t have imagined when you were 30 or 40. His provision may look different now than it once did. The strength you have today isn’t the strength you had decades ago, but it’s exactly the strength you need for today.
God doesn’t give us bulk mercies to store up for the year ahead. He gives them “morning by morning.”
The hymn continues: “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!” Not strength for the whole year. Not a promise that tomorrow will be easier. But strength for today, and the confident hope that tomorrow morning, God’s mercies will be new again. This is how God sustains His people through every season of life.
Great is Thy faithfulness. But what makes God’s mercies truly new every morning? The hymn tells us: “Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.” God’s mercies are new because of what Christ accomplished on the cross. In His death and resurrection, Jesus bore our sin and made us new. We are baptized into His death and raised to new life. And that new life isn’t just a past event we remember. God continues His renewing work through His Word and Sacraments. Every time we hear the Absolution spoken, we receive the pardon won at Calvary. Every time we receive the Lord’s Supper, Christ comes to us with His very body and blood. Every time we open Scripture, the Holy Spirit works faith in us anew. This is how God makes all things new, not through our efforts to improve ourselves, but through His faithful promise to be present with us, sustaining us with His grace.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. This is the confession we get to make together. When you tune in to “Worship Anew,” you’re receiving those new mercies through God’s Word preached, offering prayers, and singing hymns. When you open your Hope-Full Living devotional each morning, you’re meeting the God whose compassions never fail. When you send a dearly loved care package, you’re sharing the truth that “all I have needed Thy hand hath provided.” And as you read the pages of this magazine, we hope that you see God’s faithfulness in each and every story.
Our ministry exists to share God’s Word and encouragement with you, morning by morning, just as the hymn proclaims: God is faithful. Not just to past generations, not just in general, but to you. This January morning, and every morning that follows, His mercies are new.
Whether this new year feels devastating or ordinary, whether you’re in the ruins or the routine, God’s faithfulness never changes. “As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.” And so we confess together: “Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.”