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Monday, 11 June 2012

How Great Thou Art

A Swedish poem, "O Store Gud" (O Great God), was written by Carl Boberg in 1885. Not long after it was used as a hymn in the underground Swedish church and later was translated into German and Russian. E. Gustav Johnson translated the hymn into English in 1921, but it didn't catch on because it's literal translation is a little awkward. In 1949, Stuart K. Hine heard the Russian translation of the hymn and made the English paraphrase, now known as "How Great Thou Art". Though only a paraphrase, it manages to capture the original awe and wonder of Carl Boberg's poem. He added the third verse about his amazement that Jesus would die for our sins.

Here are some of my favorite renditions:

Of course, it was George Beverly Shea who made the song famous in America when he performed it at a televised Billy Graham Crusade in Madison Square Garden.

How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made.

Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

REFRAIN:

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!

Psalm 145:3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.

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.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He bled and died to take away my sin.

John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Then I shall bow in humble adoration,

And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Revelation 7:11-12 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."

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Scripture and . . .

There is power in God's Word. He created the heavens and the earth with His Word. In Genesis 1, six times there is a pattern of "Then God said..." followed by "and it was so." From the beginning of time, when God speaks, things happen.

God promises that His Word will have His desired effect:
Isaiah 55:10-11 (NASB) "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

The Bible is living and active, especially in convicting us of sin:
Hebrews 4:12 (NASB) For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Scripture is profitable and equips believers for His work:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB) All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Our words are feeble. Some are better with words than others, but the words of all are imperfect, fallible, and ... human.

Lately, I was enjoying the words of different hymns and praise songs and wondered what makes some better than others when it hit me: the power was in God's Word that shone through the author's words. I desired to connect the words of the songs to the foundation of Scripture. A plan for studying one song each week formed as well as a desire to share my findings with others.

However, hymns and praise songs are not the only things built on the rock of God's Word. Our lives should be built on that foundation as well. I can hear my son singing about the two houses:
Matthew 7:24-27 (NASB) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell - and great was its fall."

The second verse of his song talks about building our lives "on the rock of Jesus' Word." That can only be done by knowing and doing God's Word. So God's Word should be seen and applied in all areas of our lives, not just in the songs we sing.

I originally thought to call this blog "Scripture and Music", but the more I pondered this idea of the Bible's connection to all of life I decided to just call it "Scripture and ... Music ... Crafts ... Life" or for short just "Scripture and ...". My desire is that all who read it will leave not pondering my words, but God's.