One of my favorite hymns is How Great Thou Art. Just hearing the song when it comes on the radio or when we sing it in church speaks to me.

The song was written by Carl Boberg in 1885. Boberg was walking home in the bayside town of Mönsterås, Sweden when a thunderhead appeared on the horizon. Lightning flashed. Thunder clapped.

When the storm had passed, Boberg opened his windows to let in the fresh bay air, and the vision of tranquility that greeted him stirred something deep in his soul. He sat down and wrote “O Store Gud”—the poem that, through a winding series of events would become “How Great Thou Art.”

Here’s the first verse of the song:

Oh 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

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Every time I hear the song, I think about the storms of life that we all go through. When we’re in the middle of them and the skies are so dark that it’s impossible to see our hand in front of us, it’s hard to keep your bearings much less feel like singing.

Psalms 34:17-20 says,

The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

I love that the Lord hears us whether our voice is in song of rejoicing and thanksgiving or crying out for mercy while the storm around us threatens to swallow us up. No matter the circumstances, He always hears and delivers.

Looking back on the many storms that I’ve gone through in life, I can see God’s hand on me through them all, and I am in awesome wonder that He has brought me through each of them, just as He will get you through whatever storm you are going through now and, in the future, until we stand before Him face to face.

What an amazing God we serve.

And all the more reason for our souls to sing no matter what we’re going through.

For those of you who love the song, here’s a version of it sang by Carrie Underwood that is amazing.

All the best…

Mary Alford

www.maryalford.net