Carl Boberg 1859-1940 |
How Great Thou Art
Written: 1885
Author: Carl Boberg
Birthplace: Sweden
Translated by: Stewart K. Hine in 1948
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I can say without fear of argument that this song
has captured the hearts of Christians more than any
other song in our generation. I am indebted to Mr. Stewart K. Hine, who was used of
God to literally give this song to the world, for the
thrilling story leading to its writing and
development.
"How Great Thou Art" in it's original form
came from Sweden in 1885, almost 100 years ago. It was
a poem written by Carl Boberg, a 26-year old preacher,
in the summer of 1885 under the title "O Store
Gud" which is translated "O Great God."
It was a warm summer day. Carl and some of his friends
had gone to a meeting some 2 miles from home. On the
way back they were caught in a thunder storm. As the
storm broke, the lightning flashed, the thunder
rolled, and the winds swept across the fields; and
then, as quickly as it came, it was all over. The sun
again came out and with it appeared a rainbow. Then,
as the rainbow disappeared and the sun began to sink
low in the west in the thrill of the evening, from a
distance could be heard the song of the thrush
and the church tower sounding the tolling of the bell
memorializing a funeral that had been held that
afternoon. The very atmosphere, the beauty of the
surroundings, and the sound of the bell---all combined
to draw from the heart and mind of the young preacher
a poem, the subject of which after many translations
in many lands and after many years would become known
as "How Great Thou Art."
Each Translation helped enrich
the poem as each country added it's own particular
"flavor," but it was an English missionary
by the name of Stuart K. Hine who worked in the
western Ukraine and later in Sub-Carpathian
Russia, who gave us the inspiring original
English words as we know them today. As one
looks back, one can't help but see the hand of
God sending Hine to the particular area in which
he worked, for he later said, "God put me
amid unforgettable experiences in the Carpathian
Mountains." These experiences, plus the
grandeur and beauty of his surroundings, did
much to flood Hine with the feeling of awe and
wonder at so great a God. This would eventually
lead him to describe all of this in his own way
and words.
In giving his account of
events leading to the writing, Hine recalls the first
Carpathian Mountain Village to which he climbed. He
stood in the street, sang a Gospel hymn, and read
aloud John, chapter three. But a storm was gathering
and soon he had taken shelter in the home a friendly
schoolmaster who had been listening.
"Awe-inspiring was 'the mighty thunder' echoing
through the mountains" was the way he described
the experience which would be the seed-thought for his
first stanza.
Traveling on, Hine crossed
the mountain frontier into Romania. There in Bukovina
(the land of the beech tree) he found believers
young and old alike. Together "through the woods
and forest glades" they wandered and "heard
the birds sing sweetly in the trees." To the
accompaniment of mandolins and guitars, they too burst
into song singing the Russian version of "How
Great Thou Art." Thus inspired by the awesome
wonder of the surroundings, "the works thy hands
have made," the beautiful melody and the earlier
mountain experience with it's "mighty
thunder," there burst forth into life from the
heart and mind of missionary Hine, the first two
stanzas: O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy pow'r throu' out 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 hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze,...
As Hine continued his work of preaching and
distributing Gospels in village after village and had
traveled some 125 miles, he had an experience which
would give life to verse 3. He met a man and his wife
who had owned a Bible for almost 20 years (it had been
left by a fleeing Russian soldier) but they could not
read it. The very year that Hine met them the wife had
taken the Bible and had made up her mind she would
learn to read it, and in turn, began to read it to the
villagers who in wonder listened as she slowly and
haltingly read the most wonderful story of the
crucifixion. Tears began to flow as men and women fell
to their knees crying to God. It was at that precise
time that Stuart K. Hine came upon the scene and
witnessed the amazing happening---people seeing the
revelation of God's love at Calvary for the first
time. It was then that he conceived stanza three:
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.
It was some 10 years later (1948) that he conceived
the fourth stanza. God used the years in between to
impress upon Hine's heart the importance of the
words "home" and "heaven" as
he worked among the many World War II refugees in
Britain. The first question they would ask was,
"When are we going home?" At such a time,
what better message could he give them but of the One
who had gone to prepare a better home and who had
promised to come someday to take His children home
with Him forever to a place called Heaven. And so from
his heart and these experiences there came the fourth
stanza.
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 there proclaim, My God, how great thou art!
Carl Boberg's poem had traveled long and far, but at
last it had reached a place in its transformation
where it would inspire and bless the English speaking
church more than any other song had since the days of
the Wesleys. All because of a dedicated missionary
servant of God named Stewart K. Hine. 
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