We had to write about a hymn

How Great Thou Art was written by a swedish writer named Carl Boberg. This hymn is based on a verse in the Bible, the verse is Psalm 145:3. It says, “Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.” It was made in Sweden, so America had not heard it yet. The first American singer to preform it in America was James Caldwell at Stoney Brook Bible Conference in Long Island. Carl Boberg was a swedish preacher in the 1800’s, he wrote the hymn in 1886. The original name was “O Store Gud”. Carl was inspired to write this hymn when he visited a country side on the southeast coast of Sweden. While he was there, there was a violent thunder storm, he said, “with awe-inspiring moments of flashing violence.” Then right when it ended the sun came out and he heard the sweet songs of nearby birds. It caused him to “fall to his knees in humble adoration of our mighty God.” He then began to wright about his experience and wrote the hymn.

Churches everywhere began to sing his poem during the services. He said he was surprised when his church started to sing it one day, they put it to the tune of a old Swedish melody. During this time, there was a great migration, people all over Sweden wanted to move elsewhere because of many reasons. One of those reasons was there was enough land, so they just decided to move somewhere else. Also, the Government was connected to the State Lutheran Church, so they were either exiled from the country or fined every time they practiced a different religion. Carl Boberg was not really affected greatly from all the laws and problems, he just kept righting hymns about our almighty God.



My favorite lines of this hymn are in the beginning where it says, “O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made; I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.” Those are my favorite lines because they are saying, when I think about everything you have made, I am filled with wonder, and when I see the things you have made I see your power. I like those lines because everything you look at or hear shows that God is real and he is all powerful.