"How Great THou Art" (Trinity Hymnal 44)

Hymn of the Month, March 2019
Researched and written by Rev. Nicholas Davelaar

​For how young it is, “How Great Thou Art” is a surprisingly well-known and well-loved hymn. Countless people, including the likes of Billy Graham and Elvis Presley, have ranked it among their favorites. It even came second in a Christianity Today survey of favorite hymns of all time, right behind “Amazing Grace.”
 
The words of “How Great Thou Art” in our Trinity Hymnal are ascribed to a British missionary named Stuart Hine (1899-1989), but they originated in Sweden over a decade before Hine’s birth. In 1885 Carl Gustav Boberg (1859-1940), a Swedish lay preacher and poet, was caught in a thunderstorm while taking a walk with some friends. After the storm was over and Boberg was home, he opened a window that faced the newly calm bay near his house. The open window also let in the sound of church bells tolling after a funeral. The contrast between the fierce storm and the calmness afterwards inspired him to write a poem, which he did that very night. Early the next year Boberg submitted this nine-verse poem, titled “O store Gud” (“O Great God”), for publication. Within a couple years it had been paired with a Swedish folk tune and sung in worship. Not objecting to the pairing, Boberg published that tune and his poem together in 1891 in the weekly Christian newspaper that he had recently become editor of. Boberg wrote other poems and later even served in Sweden’s parliament for nearly two decades, but he is best remembered for “O store Gud.”
 
Boberg’s poem followed a lengthy and circuitous route before Stuart Hine encountered it. In 1907 it was translated from Swedish to German by a businessman who had heard the hymn in Estonia. That German translation then traveled to Russia, where Ivan Prokhanov, a prominent evangelical leader and source of many Russian hymns, translated it into his native language. That was how Hine encountered it, while ministering in Ukraine. In 1934 Hine remembered the hymn, while on an evangelistic mission in the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. Inspired what he remembered of Boberg’s hymn in its Russian form, Hine wrote the first three verses of “How Great Thou Art” (in both English and Russian). He added the fourth verse after the end of World War II, while ministering to sorrowful refugees who had come to England from Eastern Europe.
 
Hines wrote two other verses for the Russian version of his hymn, and though neither of them has been published much, one of them is worthy of inclusion here:

When burdens press, and seem beyond endurance,
Bowed down with grief, to Him I lift my face;
And then in love He brings me sweet assurance:
'My child! for thee sufficient is my grace'.
 
As its title suggests, “How Great Thou Art” is a song of praise to God for his greatness. In it we express awe and adoration for his power displayed in creation first of all, and then for his mighty work of redemption. As Psalm 145:3 exclaims, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,” and we echo that truth in this month’s hymn.
 
O 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 pow’r throughout the universe displayed.

Chorus:
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!

We begin this month’s hymn mentioning parts of God’s creation that prompt majestic wonder in us. This world and every other planet, the stars and thunder—these and other parts of his creation display his power. He is the one who made and still governs each one. Scripture declares, for instance, that “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names” (Ps. 147:4). Storms too are under his control: “He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses” (Ps. 135:7). Seeing all this, we sing to him, how great thou art! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods” (Ps. 96:4).
 
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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; <Chorus>

We shift our focus in this second verse from the awe-inspiring parts of God’s creation to the serenely wonderful, shifting from the likes of lofty mountain grandeur to gentle brooks and breezes. This verse leads us in imagining a walk through woods and forest glades on a peaceful day, while birds sing sweetly in the trees, a brook gurgles nearby, and a gentle breeze wafts ever-new freshness our way. In this too we see God’s greatness. The trees, for instance, belong to him according to Psalm 148:5, 9. The same is true of the birds: “I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine” (Ps. 50:11). Thus we repeat, 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. <Chorus>

As much as God’s creation displays his greatness, his work of redemption radiates his greatness even more stunningly. This third verse leads us in recalling that this great God who created and governs both the awe-inspiring and serenely wonderful did not spare his Son, but sent him to die to take away my sin. By nature each of us is a diehard rebel against the great God of heaven and earth. We live in his world, with displays of his power all around us, but do we naturally acknowledge his rule over us and thank him for his daily care? No! In fact, we do just the opposite! God’s gift of his Son is therefore a display of greatness we can scarce take in. “He… did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us…” (Rom. 8:32). And the Son, for his part, gladly bore the burden sinners like us: “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John. 10:18). This he did, as 1 Peter 2:24 states, “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Thus we repeat yet again, how great thou art! This is most fitting according to Psalm 40:16: “May those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!’”
 
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then shall I bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art. <Chorus>
 
This final verse continues to lead us in singing of God’s greatness in the work of redemption. According to the Father’s plan, Christ shall come again and take all his people to be with him forever. As Paul wrote, “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Phil. 3:20). There and then we will declare God’s greatness in humble adoration: “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations” (Rev. 15:3)! How great thou art!