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A MONTHLY HYMN FOR YOUR FAMILY TO LEARN AND SING TOGETHER

How Great Thou Art

 
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September - How Great Thou Art

Lyrics

Oh Lord, my God
When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

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

And 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

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

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 then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art

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
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

 
 

September Bible Memory Verse

Psalm 145:3 (NIV)

‘Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.’

 

Story Behind the Hymn

There are many hymns we love that did not begin in the English language. This hymn is based on a Swedish hymn, ‘O Store Gud,’ written in 1885 by Carl Boberg. He had been admiring God’s creation and particularly the swiftness of a big storm as it came and went. It was matched to an old Swedish folk tune and sung for the first time in a church in 1888.

It was first translated into English by E Gustav Johnson. But the more popular version widely sung today was crafted by Stuart K. Hine in 1949. Stuart was an English missionary who served the Lord in Ukraine. He heard it in Russian (from a German translation) and translated and re-wrote his English version with a new verse three and four.

The third verse, which looks at Christ’s sacrifice, was inspired by hearing a group of Ukrainians confess their sins and trust in the Lord Jesus.

The fourth verse was inspired by a soldier who was unable to find his wife after the second world war. When they were together, she had been a Christian but he had not been. He had since turned to the Lord and longed to find her to tell her of his faith, but took comfort that one day they would be home with the Lord together.

The hymn became even more popular because of the Billy Graham crusades. Graham, alongside his friends George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows, used it regularly at the large gatherings they held all over the world telling thousands about the good news of the Lord Jesus. We once got to meet them and asked Mr. Shea why we grew up in the U.K. singing ‘mighty thunder’ in verse 1 but in America, they sing ‘rolling thunder.' He smiled and said it was because he changed it to rolling and it caught on!

 
 

Something to Think About

Two huge, beautiful magnolia trees stand taller than our house on either side of the path that leads to our front door. My desk sits by a window that looks out on one of them and I love to gaze at it! It always makes my eyes look upward to the high top and opens up my thoughts to God’s greatness. The hymns we sing should help us do that - lift up our gaze to the Lord to see how great and how marvelous and how powerful He is.

We often look around at the many difficult and hard things in our world - the wars, the physical needs, the harsh words between people, the many broken things. This hymn so helpfully reminds us that not only is God’s perfect power, strength, and purpose so much greater, but He has also sent His Son to bear our greatest burdens. And then because of this, we have hope that one day He will take us home and it will be joy that fills our hearts and no more sorrow.

Let’s keep singing this out to give us courage and also to share this good news with others whose hearts may be heavy and need to see the greatness of the Lord. Think of the thousands who have sung it in different languages around the world as we pray that more people around the world might come to know Him.

Prayer

Father in heaven,

We thank you for how you use melodies and lyrics to tell many people of Your greatness and Your love for each of us. May these words continue to draw people to You.

We pray that we might carry this hymn closely as we go, as we grow up and as we serve You. May it remind us to praise You in the calm and peaceful days and in the stormy ones too when we are afraid. You are Creator and King of all things, and our hearts find our greatest joy in You.

In Jesus Name

Amen

 

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