PREACHING THROUGH THE HYMNS, SERIES:

How Great Thou Art

Carl Boberg (1859-1940) in 1886 Stuart Keen Hine (1899-1989) in 1948 Psalm 145:2-3

This is a fine twentieth century hymn of praise that has become a favorite with God’s people during the last three decades. Its popularity is due in large part of its wide use by favorite Gospel singers, notably George Beverly Shea. Although introduced to American audiences when Mr. James Caldwell sang “How Great Thou Art” at the Stoney Brook Bible Conference on Long Island in 1951, it was not until Cliff Barrows and Beverly Shea of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team used it during the famed London Crusade in Harringgay Arena that “How Great Thou Art” started to become universally well known.

The original text was written by Swedish pastor, Carl Boberg, in 1886, and the song was sung to an old Swedish folk tune. In addition to being of the leading evangelical preachers of his day, Boberg was also the successful editor of religious periodicals. His inspiration for this text is said to have come from a visit to a beautiful country estate on the southeast coast of Sweden. He was suddenly caught in a midday thunderstorm with awe-inspiring moments of flashing violence, followed by a clear brilliant sun. Soon afterward he heard the calm, sweet songs of the birds in nearby trees. The experience prompted the pastor to fall to his knees in humble adoration of his mighty God. He penned his exaltation in a nine-stanza poem beginning with the Swedish words “OStore Gud, nar jag den varld beskader” or simply “O Great God.”

The hymn was translated into German in 1907, by Manfred von Glenn. An early translation into English was published in 1925, by Rev. Gustav Johnson in Chicago, under the title “O Mighty God When I Behold the Wonder”, but it never caught on. In 1927, I.S. Prokhanboff came upon the German version and translated into the Russian language. This came to the attention of Mrs. And Mrs. Stuart K. Hine.

Reverend Hine and his wife were English missionaries to the Ukraine beginning in 1927, and they sang this song for many years in Russian. They remember singing it as a duet in dark, un-evangelized places and the telling effect it had on the unsaved. It was while visiting the Carpathian Mountains in Russia that the mountain scenery played a major part in inspiring an English translation. Thus, inspired partially by the Russians words, partially by the awesome wonder at the sight of the “all the works thy hand hath made,” the thoughts of the first two verses sprang into life in English. When war broke out in 1939, it was necessary for them to return to England, where Stuart Hine wrote the fourth stanza of the hymn in 1948. This finalized the composition of this hymn as we know it today. The completed hymn was first printed in a Russian gospel magazine by Hine in 1949, and first introduced in America in 1951, when James Caldwell sang it at the Stoney Brook Bible Conference on Long Island.

Assignments of copy and publications rights to an American publishing firm in 1954, helped spread the popularity of this hymn. In April of 1974, Christian Herald magazine, in a poll presented to its readers, named “How Great Thou Art” the number one hymn in America.

HISTORICAL SETTING  Robert L. Stevenson wrote “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” in 1886.  Ty Cobb, American baseball player, was born in 1886.  Babe Ruth and Orville Wright died in 1948.  Israel was admitted to the UN in 1949.  Color television was first introduced in the U.S. in 1951.

HOW GREAT THOU ART

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 power throughout the universe displayed.

Chorus Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

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 see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Chorus

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

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!"

Chorus