May Hymn of the Month - 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
Hymn Story
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!
Published first on the Ghetty website