How Great Thou Art

This is arguably the 2nd most well-known hymn of the 20th and 21st Centuries. It has to be, Carrie Underwood sang it! Ok, well maybe that’s not THE reason for it being second only to Amazing Grace. But, if you were to Google the title, there’s a good chance the top result will be one of Carrie’s versions. (My favorite is the live version with Vince Gill performed at the ACM Girls Night Out event in MGM Grand’s 17,000-seat auditorium. It brought everyone to their feet. https://youtu.be/rk6gtZZgsNo )

Originally written by a Swedish author named Carl Boberg in 1885, it reached the United States in 1949 via the translating work of an Englishman by the name of Stuart Hine. Prior to Hine’s work, it had already been translated into German in 1907 and then Russian in 1912. In 1954, J. Edwin Orr heard Hine’s version performed by a local tribe in North East India. That same year, George Beverly Shea was given a copy and later sang it at the 1955 Billy Graham Crusade in Toronto. However, it wasn’t until 1957, in Madison Square Garden, that the song became even more popular. It was sung 99 times over that 16-week crusade with over 2.3 million people in attendance and viewed by a TV audience estimated to be as large as 96 million people. The song became a staple of the Billy Graham crusades worldwide. In 1967, Elvis Presley received the first of only 3 Grammies awarded to him in his lifetime for his recording of How Great Thou Art. There are now over 1700 known recordings of it, and that number increases annually.

What is it about this song that makes it so incredibly popular, in such a relatively short amount of time? What makes this song so powerful that it captures the hearts and minds of so many?

Verse 1
Oh Lord, my GodWhen I, in awesome wonderConsider all the worlds Thy hands have madeI see the stars, I hear the rolling thunderThy power throughout the universe displayed
 
Romans 1:20 tells us that God has been known ever since the world was created. Psalm 19:1-4 “The heavens declare the Glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” My sales career developed in the western United States. As I traveled, I was blessed to see so much of God’s creation. What most people fly over, I drove. The beauty and wonder of God’s creation, viewed alone from the windshield of too many demo vehicles to list, has forever changed my life. We often forget just how small we really are.
Verse 2
And when I think that God, His Son not sparingSent Him to die, I scarce can take it inThat on the cross, my burden gladly bearingHe bled and died to take away my sin
 
Yet through that seemingly insignificant existence, God reaches out to us. The hymn captures our attention as we visibly see the beauty and splendor of God’s creation. Then it turns that focus on God’s infinite love for us, as written in John 3:16.
Verse 3
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamationAnd take me home, what joy shall fill my heartThen I shall bow, in humble adorationAnd then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art
Chorus
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to TheeHow great Thou art, how great Thou artThen sings my soul, my Savior God to TheeHow great Thou art, how great Thou art
 
What a day we have to look forward to! What unending joy we have promised to us! And what worship that will be, in the presence of the Almighty God! “Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art”! If that don’t get your fire going, you’re wood’s wet!
“How Great Thou Art” puts the gospel story to a beautiful and powerful melody. It gives us the words to share our faith with others. It gives us the words with which to praise our heavenly Father. It captures what we see with our eyes and connects what we know in our mind, then gives us a song in our hearts that brings joy and peace to our souls. It truly is one of the greatest hymns ever written.

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