Saturday, April 14, 2007

How Great Thou Art

Tomorrow, we will be singing "How Great Thou Art" in church, and I was reviewing the lyrics to the song when I was struck by what a perfectly balanced song it is in terms of presenting a picture of who God is.
  • Verse 1:
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hands have made.
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy power through-out 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!
  • Verse 2:
When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And 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:
(Repeat Refrain.)
  • Verse 3:
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:
(Repeat Refrain.)
  • Verse 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!
(Repeat Refrain.)
It starts off with a description of God as a mighty Creator and powerful being, moves on to discussing the beauty and grandeur of his creations, then discusses His amazing grace and love for us as demonstrated through the Gift of His Son, and finally, describes His Awesome Power over sin. He is worthy of us bowing down and humbly adoring Him. My God. How great Thou art!

My appreciation for these lyrics lead me to research the origin of the hymn. I came across the following site....
How Great Thou Art
The history of the song is worth reading. The site that contains this history is called
AllAboutGod.com. It has some well developed resources and materials for Christians, and looks like a great place to nudge anyone towards that may be curious about what this "Jesus stuff" is all about.

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