Great Is Thy Faithfulness is a well-known sacred hymn composed by William Marion Runyan (1870-1957) and Thomas Obediah Chisholm. (1866-1960).
In this post we present you a nice arrangement for this sacred hymn for acoustic Guitar. The video below shows the entire arrangement with sc, chords, tablature, and fingering.
About the composers
William M. Runyan (1870–1957) was a Christian composer from the United States who wrote the music to the well-known hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness. In 1870, William Marion Runyan was born in Marion, New York. His father was a Methodist minister Rev. William White Runyan (born 1828).
At age fourteen, Runyan and his family moved to Marion, Kansas. As a youth, Runyan served as a church organist and graduated from Marion High School in Kansas. Runyan was ordained as a Methodist minister at age twenty-one and then pastored various congregations in Kansas. Runyan attended Northwestern University for three years from 1895 to 1898. Starting in 1915 Runyan began writing gospel songs with the encouragement of D.B. Towner of the Moody Bible Institute. In 1923 Runyan moved from Wichita to Chicago.
From 1924 to 1926 Runyan was affiliated with John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas pastoring the Federated Church, and editing the Christian Workers’ Magazine. Runyan then moved back to Chicago where he worked with the Moody Bible Institute, and he worked as an editor for Hope Publishing Company, co-editing “The Service Hymnal” with Gordon Shorney.
In 1923 Runyan composed the music to the song “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” originally a poem by Thomas O. Chisholm, a friend, and fellow Methodist minister. Runyan retired from Hope in 1948 and received the honorary Doctor of Letters from Wheaton College. Runyan lived for a period of his retirement in Galveston, Texas and died on July 29, 1957 in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Thomas O. Chisholm was born in Franklin, Kentucky in 1866. His boyhood was spent on a farm and in teaching district schools. He spent five years as editor of the local paper at Franklin. He became a Christian at age 26 and was the business manager and office editor of the “Pentecostal Herald” or Louisville, Ky. In 1903 he entered the ministry of the M. E. Church South.
The Arrangement for Guitar
This song was arranged for Acoustic Guitar by Fernando Neves. It is in the key of C and at 80 bpm. Th time signature fo this song is 3/4 and you can play along when you are watching the video. For practice, slow dow the video by clicking the gear.
Lyrics
Great is thy faithfulness, Oh 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.
Refrain:
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!
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. [Refrain]
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, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! [Refrain]
Source: Christian Worship (2021): Hymnal #602 All representative texts • Compare texts
🛒 BUY THIS SCORE WITH TABLATURE AND CHORDS at Sheetmusicplus.com.