How Great Thou Art

The popular hymn "How Great Thou Art" is based on a Swedish poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg in Sweden in 1885. The melody is a Swedish folk song. It was translated into English by British missionary Stuart K. Hine, who also added two original verses of his own composition. The message of this old hymn is one or amazement and adoration of our majestic Creator in heaven.

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.

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.

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.

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 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!

A young minister’s two-mile walk in the rain provided the inspiration for “How Great Thou Art." The Reverend Carl Boberg of Monsteras, on the southeast coast of Sweden, was 25 years old when he wrote the lyrics of this song after trekking through a thunderstorm from a church meeting two miles away.

photo by Nick Scheerbart on unsplash.com

More than forty years later, an English missionary, Stuart Hine, first heard the song in Russia. He and his young wife were missionaries to the Carpathian area of Russia, then a part of Czechoslovakia. There, they heard a very meaningful hymn that was a Russian translation of Carl Boberg’s O Store Gud (O Great God). While ministering in the Carpathian Mountains, Hine found himself in the midst of a threatening storm. As it rolled through the mountain range, the thunder was so awesome that it reminded Hine of the beautiful Russian hymn that had already become so dear to him.

The gentle power and serene beauty of the lyrics proclaim the greatness of our God. We find ourselves singing both about the Creator and directly to Him in this magnificent prayer of praise. God, how great thou art!