Today we’re singing “How Great Thou Art,” which has been one of my favorites for a long time. I remember as a young boy attending a week of revival services at First Baptist Church in Roswell. I remember it because not only was there a guest preacher but a guest music director. And the guest music director said, “There’s a new hymn I came across recently. I want to teach it to you.” The hymn was “How Great Thou Art.” We sang it all week, which excited everyone. It was the first time a bunch of Baptists sang another hymn as often as they sang “Just As I Am.”
If you look on p. 698, you will find #4 -How Great Thou Art - by the name Stuart Hine. Gustav Boburg, a Swede, wrote a poem called “O Store Gud” (literally “O Great God”) in 1885. Stuart Hine (1899-1989) was born in England but spent much of his early adult life as a missionary to the Western Ukraine of Russia. He translated and arranged the English words of this poem to the Swedish folk song to which the song was traditionally sung. He did this in 1953.
The Billy Graham Crusade is largely responsible for introducing this hymn to America, where it has experienced great popularity. But repeatedly “How Great Thou Art” has also been voted the most popular hymn of Great Britain.
Kenneth Osbeck, an American hymnologist, once said, “This great hymn teaches three essential truths: the greatness of God’s creation, the greatness of Christ’s redemption, and the greatness of our future inheritance.” -DJ
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