HOW GREAT THOU ART
Music Ministry Sunday –March 11, 2012 –Revelation 5: 6-14
The Church of the Covenant
I love the hymn “How Great Thou Art” because I am Swedish, my last name is Broberg, my Grandfather’s
name is Carl, my first name is Stuart, and the hymn was written by Carl BOBERG, a Swedish minister, and
the fourth verse was written and the translation done by a man by the name of STUART Hine (even
spelled the right way!). Get it? STUART BOBERG!!!!!
But I also love the hymn because it came about in a most unlikely fashion. A 26 year old Swedish
minister, Carl Boberg, writes an obscure poem entitled, O Store Gud, meaning, O Mighty God. And it lies
forgotten for many years. Then someone links it to an old Swedish folk tune and Boberg is astonished
many years later to hear it being sung. But this also becomes lost and forgotten. An English missionary,
Stuart Hine, hears the hymn being sung in Russia, translates it into the words “How Great Thou Art” and
adds the fourth verse, and modifies the tune. This also becomes lost and forgotten over time. An
evangelist hears the tune being sung by Assam tribesmen from India and brings it back to England where
he uses it in his crusades, where it is finally discovered by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association,
where George Beverly Shea, begins to sing it as a solo, in Billy Graham crusades in 1954 –the year I was
born! (From “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan, p. 213)
The story of this hymn is that it was written and forgotten, rediscovered and revised and forgotten
again, rediscovered and re-revised and forgotten again, only finally to be rediscovered and to become a
favorite through the Crusades in the 1950’s. It is the hymn that would not die. It is the words that were
forgotten and then re-remembered. It is the miracle hymn that found its way from Sweden to America
by way of Russia and India. Its subject matter is about perfect praise –How Great Thou Art –How great
and wonderful are You, Lord! --How worthy of worship are You, Lord God ALMIGHTY! How Your
handiwork in nature points to who You are! How the death of Your Son, Jesus Christ, “Your Son not
sparing” points to who You are. Worship and praise are the “singing of the soul”. “Worthy is the Lamb!”
as our scripture notes. (Revelation 5: 12) When we enter into the presence of God and when we
worship HIM, our soul sings, our spirit is uplifted, and when we sing in praise “How Great Thou Art!” we
get our minds off our own troubles, sadnesses and disappointments and we focus instead on the greatness, love, mercy and power of the God who loves us, revealed in Jesus Christ.
Here is the thing lost that needs to be rediscovered, just like this hymn. When we focus on God in
heaven and in praise, we forget about our troubles here on earth. When we raise our eyes from our
sadnesses and our losses in life, we are able to see the goodness and the grace and the love that God
has for us in the next life. When we praise God and who HE is, we are able to adjust our heart from all
that drags us down and focus instead on HE who lifts us up. When we worship and bow down, when we
praise and lift our hands, when we acknowledge that we alone are insufficient to get us through
whatever we are facing in life, then we grasp that God is quite able to get us through whatever we face
in life. When we praise as did the angels in heaven in our scripture and say “Worthy is the Lamb!”
(Revelation 5:12) we move our focus off of ourselves and our problems and onto God who alone is the
solution to our problems. When we praise our soul indeed can sing, How Great Thou (God) Art!!!!!
Rediscover praise; rediscover the reasons to praise and worship the Almighty.
Praise. It gets us out of ourselves. It gets us into God.
Here is the next thing to be re-discovered, just like this hymn. In the same way that there was a
convoluted path by which this hymn became an all time favorite and in the same way that it seemed
impossible for this hymn to come to light, let alone to be sung and re-sung as an instrument of praise. In
the very same way, where it seemed there was not a way for this hymn to come to light, no, God made a
way, where there seemed to be NO WAY. God made a path where it seemed impossible. God brought
this Hymn to us in a way that only God could bring.
Beloved, there are things we wrestle with in life, things that may seek to get us down, losses we do not
understand. The way seems dark and impossible. The way is unclear and uncertain. Beloved, when we
praise, when we praise in advance, when we choose to focus our heart and our soul and our spirit on
the One from whom all blessings flow, when we choose to assign worth to what God has done in Jesus
for us, when we lift up our eyes to hills from whence cometh our help...When we choose to praise, even
and especially when we don’t FEEL like praising, when we choose to worship, when we choose to look
up to heaven, when we choose to forget for just a moment the burdens in life, when we choose to
worship and praise God instead of worry and be anxious and fear...ah, then it is that God will find a way,
where there seems to be no way.
When in doubt –Praise! When you’re sad and down –Praise! When you’re having a no good terrible
bad day –Praise! When everything goes wrong –Praise! When you’ve lost the love of your life –Praise!
When you’re worried, when darkness enfolds you, when life itself seems to get you down –Praise!
Praise. And God will find a way where there seems to be no way.
Beloved, have your soul sing today –“How Great Thou Art!” and you will see God make a way where
there seems to be no way. It is the message of praise from the book of Revelation. And it is the story of
the hymn, “How Great THOU Art!” Amen!
By: The Reverend Dr. Stuart D. Broberg, The Church of the Covenant, Washington, PA
IF THIS HAS BLESSED YOU, PLEASE PASS IT ALONG TO A FRIEND!