How Great Thou Art!

“For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship [all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made], so that they [who fail to believe and trust in Him] are without excuse and without defense. [Ps 19:1-4; Eph 2:10]”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭20‬ ‭AMP‬‬

I grew up in a small town in Upstate NY, and started attending St. Paul Baptist Church when I was in eighth grade.  Like most Baptist churches, along with other more contemporary songs, we also sang from hymnals.  As a young person, the songs from the hymnals just didn’t excite me.  The language was sometimes awkward, and the concepts being expressed often went over my head.  Because I loved music, I learned the hymns, but none really breached the barrier between musical appreciation and genuine heart change.  That is, except for one.  There was one hymn that brought tears to my preteen eyes every time it was sung.  And that hymn was “How Great Thou Art!”, whose lyrics are credited to a Swedish preacher, Carl Boberg. Apparently Reverend Boberg was struck by the awesomeness of God and His creation during a visit to the Swedish countryside, in which he was caught in a tremendous and violent thunderstorm. Once the storm had passed, he was struck by the contrasting peace that filled the area. He was struck by the power and might of our God, and from that experience, he penned the nine-stanza poem that we now sing as a hymn.

As I stood in the small church and began to sing, about the wonder that our God has created, my heart filled with awe.  In my mind’s eye I began to see myself dwarfed by the realization of the magnificence of God. I felt tiny, insignificant even, and it brought the sobering realization that God CHOSE to have a relationship with me.  He CHOSE to send His Son to save me.  He CHOSE to be mindful of me – He had no NEED for me.  In His magnificence, He has no NEED for anything, but He chose me nonetheless. What kind of love is this?

Even as I sit here writing about this, and hearing the lyrics ringing in my ears, I can appreciate Reverend Boberg’s exclamation of his soul singing to an awesome God, “how great Thou art, how great Thou art!”  In this year, 2024, I had the rare opportunity to see God’s hand moving in nature, as I witnessed the total eclipse.  I was viewing alongwith a group of coworkers on top of a parking garage.  As the moon moved over the sun, and we found ourselves in total darkness at 3:00 in the afternoon, it took everything I had in me to prevent myself from breaking out in song! The lyrics “then sings my sooouuulllll” bubbled up from my spirit, and “How Great Thou Art” was on the tip of my tongue! I looked out over the city from my high perch, and the darkness once again reminded me of how tiny I am in comparison to all that God has made and all that He has the power to do.

What an indescribable God it is that we serve! To say that He is GREAT, is almost a travesty of an understatement.  But in all of it, to know that He loves us, with an unconditional love, is almost more than I can bear.

Take just a moment today, Beloved, and revel in that love! 

Lisa Davis-Wall

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