How Great Thou Art

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Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.
Isaiah 40:26.

 How Great Thou Art LBW 532

 1    O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand hath made,
     I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed;

      Refrain
      Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee, how great thou art! How great thou art!
      Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee, how great thou art! How great thou art!

2    When through the woods and forest glades I wander, 
       I hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
      when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur 
       and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze;  

3    But when I think that God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
that on the cross my burden gladly bearing he bled and died to take away my sin;  

4    When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart,
Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, “My God, how great thou art.”

Text: Carl Boberg, 1859-1940

       This hymn is most often associated with Billy Graham, is based on a Swedish poem from the 1880’s.  Carl Boberg, a Pastor of the Swedish Covenant Church, was walking home from worship one Sunday when he was caught in a violent storm. When the storm passed, the violence gave way to sunshine, birds singing, and the glistening, green countryside, which inspired him to write a poem he titled “O Stora Gud” – “How Great is God”.  The poem was later adapted into the first three verses of this hymn, translated into German and Russian and set to an old Swedish Folk Tune.  Methodist evangelists imported it to England from there to the US by an evangelist named Stuart Hine, who wrote and added the fourth and final verse. Billy Graham heard it in the 1950’s and chose it as the hymn to end his crusades. In 2001, it was ranked by Christianity Today as the second most beloved hymn in America after “Amazing Grace”.

      As uplifting and grand as it is, the final verse sets it apart from others; “When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation, and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, “My God, how great thou art!” 

 Prayer: O God of creation, beauty and wonder, set our souls to singing in praise of you, and when the day of Christ’s return at long last arrives, may we be worthy, joyful and filled with song!  Amen.

 Here is a video of Sissel singing the Swedish original

 
 
Craig Fourman