The Rhythm of His Faithfulness

Listening suggestion: Great is Thy Faithfulness, https://youtu.be/NT0HcAr9aeI?si=V_j_bJl0XFQm3blq

“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.”
~Thomas O. Chisholm~

“As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night will never cease.”
~Genesis 8:22~

Thomas Chisholm, the author of the beloved hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” experienced both financial and health crises, forcing him to leave the ministry and instead work in the insurance industry. The song is a reflection of God’s steadfast grace. Even as the terrestrial seasons cycle, so do our seasons of life. Oysters and the chambered nautilus set their rhythm to the lunar month; birds migrate in response to the vibrating rhythm of seasonal winds; a woman’s body is set to the orchestration of her monthly hormonal cycle. All creation dances to a circadian rhythm, the origin of which is from the dawn of time.

In Sabbath:  Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives, Wayne Muller writes that “Every season brings forth its bounty in its own time, and our life is richer when we can take time to savor the fruit of each. In the fall we chop and carry our wood, gather the harvest, rake leaves, prepare our home for winter, and give thanks. In winter, we are dormant, a time for quiet generosities, and reflection on the endurance of inner light in the midst of darkness. In spring we prepare the soil for planting, we prune what has been lost or dried up, we feed the soil and plant what is needed, and take delight in the flowers. In summer, we tend the garden, watch for weeds and crowding, thin what needs air and sun.”

Thinning garden seedlings is one thing; it is a challenge, however, to thin our busy schedules so that we ourselves can take time to bask in the sun and hydrate ourselves with a calming cup of tea. As Muller suggests, “If we are too busy, if we do not rest, we miss this rhythm” (p.67).

The other piece of this is the that all our frenzied work can leave us wondering if what we have done has been worthwhile. We can all feel insufficient, insignificant, and inconsequential. We work to steward what we have, only to find our work is never finished. Nor will it be. We labor to draw others to Kingdom values, and yet we are but one offering among countless others that have preceded us and that will follow us. People are born and die, and when are we finished? We are all a part of an endless cycle of labor, and yet we want our lives to count for something.

Surely, our predecessors faced economic hardship and personal trials, and when they sing the words of this song—as my husband’s and my parents and grandparents did—they testify of the goodness of God, bolstering our own faith when we are faced with the challenges of life. The song itself has become tradition for our families to sing when we gather, and we also had it listed as a congregational song at my husband’s and my wedding. And as Shelley Cramm so eloquently writes,

“At the heart of tradition is stability …
Traditions give a calming presence,
an anchor for the squalls of life,
a tangible tether to the unseen love that sees us through.”
~Shelley Cramm, God’s Word for Gardeners Bible, p.24~

I find that even as “God … [creates] a conversational rhythm between light and dark … the sea from dry land—creating a tidal rhythm … the sun and moon, creating a seasonal rhythmicity” (Muller, p.40), so I too can swing between highs and lows. I doubt my purpose and question His purpose for me. I second-guess if I “did things right” when I’m still in the doing and He’s not done with me yet. I lament the days I’ve wasted while He has yet more days for me to invest in and put my hand to the plow. His faithfulness in seeing me through doesn’t cease when I am at my lows, but what is clear to me that when I am in the low season, even greater is His faithfulness to me, and I can sabbath my soul in His faithfulness. When I fail to honor the low season with rest, my resources soon become exhausted, and I find myself on the treadmill of time, trying to check the boxes, answer the need, without first ministering before the Lord to to return to my resting place in Him, to find refreshment, to refuel.

The words of “Great is Thy Faithfulness” remind us that we have the privilege and blessing to know God’s mercies are a daily provision, and his abiding presence gives us hope amid a world filled with hopelessness, a rhythm offering a sabbath for our souls.

“Sabbath honors the necessary wisdom of dormancy.
If certain plant species … do not lie dormant for winter,
they will not bear fruit in the spring.
If this continues for more than a season, the plant begins to die …
A lack of dormancy produces confusion and erosion in the life force.”
~Muller, p.7~