Hymns With A Message: YOUR FAITHFULNESS

Sunday, April 2, 2023

YOUR FAITHFULNESS

For over 16 years I have written weekly hymn blogs, nearly 800 of them. But while I have shared information about them, I have never shared which were my personal favorites. So I am beginning in 2023 a new feature in which, once a month, I will share one of my favorites and why it has had an impact on my life.

The pandemic made us realize how fragile life can be. We really don't know what a day or even the next hour may hold. Life can change rapidly. But one thing we know is that there is one who never changes, one who is always faithful.

This is a lesson that Brian Doerksen learned and wrote about in this song which has become one of my favorites. Here is what the author has to say about the writing of this song.

"This song began days before the birth of our sixth child, who was born in Kingston upon Thames, England while we were living and working there. Several years before this, we had found out about "Fragile X syndrome," a permanent condition that was affecting our son, causing severe development delays and other big challenges. Knowing that the syndrome is passed genetically through the mother, and having four daughters and one son, we decided to take a 'step of faith' to try and have one more child. We were hoping and praying for a son who would not be affected with the syndrome.

As the due date approached in June of '99, I found myself becoming more and more overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, and I asked myself this simple question, "Is there anything I can count on in life?" As I began to pour out my heart at the piano, this song spilled out amid the tears, with the assurance that there is only one thing we can really count on, even when we don't understand - The faithfulness of God.

This song was initially used in Father's House, the Musical in London in 2000 with different words in verse three. When I began to prepare for this recording, I decided it was right to include so I changed the words of verse three from a lyrical focus on the vision of Father's House, to a verse on our appointment with death.

Actually, the day I wrote the new words for verse three was the day after my car was totaled in an accident, and the day before I was booked to sing at the Seven Oaks Alliance Church in Abbotsford. That weekend one of the elders from that church had been killed in an accident, and the words about our appointment with death rang particularly true that Sunday morning.

Our sixth child was a son, and we gave him the name "Isaiah Robert," which means "God is generous - Shining Fame." We found out recently that Isaiah has Fragile X Syndrome as well. The day we found out, my natural response was to resign from ministry and to focus all my energies on raising special needs children. Before that day was done, both Joyce and I felt God's leading not to resign, but to continue to move forward and minister with a 'limp', trusting God's faithfulness to carry us through."

As each of us face a new day, we face it not knowing what tomorrow may bring. It may be filled with pain and suffering. It may be disappointing. But there is one thing that is as certain as the rivers reach the sea and as certain as the sunrise in the east. And that is God's faithfulness.

May each of us face each new day knowing that as God has been faithful in the past, He will continue to be faithful in the days ahead.

I don't know what this day will bring

Will it be disappointing, filled with longed for things?

I don't know what tomorrow holds

Still I know I can trust Your faithfulness

I don't know if these clouds mean rain

If they do, will they pour down blessing or pain?

I don't know what the future holds

Still I know I can trust Your faithfulness

Certain as the rivers reach the sea

Certain as the sunrise in the east

I can rest in your faithfulness