“How Great Thou Art”

A British minister, Stuart K. Hine, contributed heavily to the version of “How Great Thou Art” that we are familiar with today. However, the original text came from a Swedish preacher, Carl Boberg, who wrote his lyrics after a unique experience on the southeast coast of Sweden.

Boberg’s inspiration for “How Great Thou Art” came from a visit to a beautiful country estate on the southeast coast of Sweden. He got caught in a midday thunderstorm with awe-inspiring moments of flashing violence, followed by a clear brilliant sun. Soon afterwards he heard the calm, sweet songs of the birds in nearby trees.”

The experience prompted Boberg to “fall to his knees in humble adoration of his mighty God.”

The Hymn “How Great Thou Art” is a hymn made out of the humble adoration of a mighty God as he reflects on the extent of His creation and power. “How Great Thou Art” Is not a question. He is not asking, “How Great Is Our God?” “How Great Thou Art” is a proclamation. It is a confession.

The writer says,

“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”

But for us, the question is not whether God is great, but do we see it? It is not whether God is valuable, but how valuable is he to you? Have you considered all the worlds His hands have mae?

Even Job, who we reflected on last week with the Hymn “It is Well”, had to pause and acknowledge the greatness of God when God showed up and began to question him. God askes him, were you there when I made the stars, the earth? Were you there when I created all things and provided for all things? God essentially asks him…. “Do you know how great I am and how good I am” Job when he hears and see God, says this in 42:5-6

Job 42:5–6 NIV

5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

He falls in worship and repentence before a holy God.

This is what this hymn is about.

As we dive into the theological truths seen in this hymn, I want us to look at a particular Psalm of David and his humble reflection on the greatness of God. Turn with me to Psalm 138, and lets read together.

Psalm 138 NIV

Of David. 1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise. 2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your solemn decree that it surpasses your fame. 3 When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me. 4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord, when they hear what you have decreed. 5 May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great. 6 Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar. 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me. 8 The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.

Again, so the question is not whether God is great. The question is have you taken time to consider how great He is. How great is He to you?

There are three things this Psalm,and this hymn remind us about the greatness of God.

First thing we learn is this:

1. God is Great Enough to Worship

Lets read verse 1:

Psalm 138:1 NIV

1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise.

Psalms 60–150 Commentary

“In the presence of the gods I will make music to you”? The ancient translations almost all shy away from the unheard-of offensive statement נגד אלהים. Gk translates: ἐναντίον ἀγγέλων and obviously thinks of the בני־האלהים, in other words, opts for a demotion of the “gods

Psalms 60–150 Commentary

The more ancient cultic traditions of Jerusalem, in which Yahweh is enthroned as “Most High God” over all other gods (cf. Pss. 96:4*; 97:7*, 9*; 82:1ff.*), have been concretized in an eschatological sense by Deutero-Isaiah. Yahweh enters a final showdown with the gods of the nations. But Israel is the witness of the salvific, constant activity of Yahweh (cf. Isa. 43:10*; 44:8*

Because of the greatness of Yahweh, the Psalmist calls for a demotion of all other God’s.

He is not afraid of worshipping the true God in the presence of all others.

David says that not only is God great, but because He is great, He is great enough to worship. He reveals that there are two characteristics of worship:

God honoring worship has two characteristics:

Whole hearted

Offensive

Whole Hearted Worship Is Offensive

The question is not whether God is greater than the other “gods”. It is whether he is greater than the other “gods” to you.

For the Psalmist to call for a demotion of other God’s, He is not implying that there are “gods” which are greater. He is not implying another thing is greater. He is calling for the demotion of it within the heart of the people.

“How Great Thou Art” is a hymn that proclaims the greatness of God.

The question is not whether God is great, it is How Great is He to you?

This is why whole hearted worship is offensive

To worship whole heartedly means that you must hold nothing back. You can not compartmentalize your worship or praise.

Whole hearted worship is offensive because it offends the false God’s of our time, and the idols of our heart.

Tim Keller writes:

An idol is anything more important to you than God. Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. Anything you seek to give you what only God can give. Anything that is so central and essential to your life, that should lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.” Counterfeit Gods

The “gods” of our time are not limited to objects made of stone or metal. They are things we have made essential to our life.

We may feel like this:

“Life only has meaning or I only have worth if…

I have power and influence over others.” (Power Idolatry)

I am loved and respected by _____.” (Approval Idolatry)

I have this kind of pleasure experience, a particular quality of life.” (Comfort idolatry)

I am able to get mastery over my life in the area of _____.” (Control idolatry)

people are dependent on me and need me.” (Helping Idolatry)

someone is there to protect me and keep me safe.” (Dependence idolatry)

I am completely free from obligations or responsibilities to take care of someone.” (Independence idolatry)

I am highly productive and getting a lot done.” (Work idolatry)

I am being recognized for my accomplishments, and I am excelling in my work.” (Achievement idolatry)

I have a certain level of wealth, financial freedom, and very nice possessions.” (Materialism idolatry)

I am adhering to my religion’s moral codes and accomplished in its activities.” (Religion idolatry)

this one person is in my life and happy to be there, and/or happy with me.” (Individual person idolatry)

I feel I am totally independent of organized religion and am living by a self-made morality.” (Irreligion idolatry)

my race and culture is ascendant and recognized as superior.” (Racial/cultural idolatry)

a particular social grouping or professional grouping or other group lets me in.” (Inner ring idolatry)

my children and/or my parents are happy and happy with me.” (Family idolatry)

Mr. or Ms. “Right” is in love with me.” (Relationship Idolatry)

I am hurting, in a problem; only then do I feel worthy of love or able to deal with guilt.” (Suffering idolatry)

my political or social cause is making progress and ascending in influence or power.” (Ideology idolatry)

I have a particular kind of look or body image.” (Image idolatry)

Tim Keller lists 4 main categories of Idols we fall victim to and how to tell which we struggle with.

He looks more closely at the first four categories:

1. If you seek POWER (success, winning, influence)…

Your greatest nightmare: Humiliation

Your problem emotion: Anger

2. If you seek APPROVAL (affirmation, love, relationships)…

Your greatest nightmare: Rejection

Your problem emotion: Cowardice

3. If you seek COMFORT (privacy, lack of stress, freedom)…

Your greatest nightmare: Stress, demands

Your problem emotion: Boredom

4. If you seek CONTROL (self-discipline, certainty, standards)…

Your greatest nightmare: Uncertainty

Your problem emotion: Worry

The God of your heart is what your mind effortlessly goes to when nothing else occupies it. -J.D. Greer

The psalmist proclaims the greatness of God in the presence of other God’s.

This means that whole hearted worship doesn’t just choose God when its convenient, but especially when its hard.

If you can only worship God as long as you don’t look silly or get humiliated, you need to pull down that idol of Power and remember the greatness of your God.

If you can only follow God as long as you don’t experience too many stress, demands, you must pull down the idol of comfort and remember the greatness of your God.

The question is not how great is God, but great is God to you?

Illustration:

When me and Elayna were in Colombia, the Embera listen to stories, but will still go back to thier witch doctors when they have an issue. They don’t view “gods” as great or not, but rather as usefull or not. So if coming to church can help in some way they will come..but they have a hard time surrendering to Jesus in a way that makes Him God of all. They think God can bless them, but they still fear other “god’s” curses.

I believe that many of us live this way. We follow Jesus and yet can’t follow Him wholeheartedly because of the comfort, success, power, relationship that we might lose.

Psalm 138:2 NIV

2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your solemn decree that it surpasses your fame.

We worship with a posture of surrender that reorients us to His heart.

To bow down towards his temple represents surrender and a reorientation.

Whole hearted worship isn’t just offensive, it changes our focus and direction.

If God is not worth your surrender, I am not sure what god you are worshipping but it is not the true God.

If God has not changed your plans or direction in your life, I am not sure what god you are worshpping but it is not the true God.

If God has not convicted your or challenged you of your sin, I’m not sure what God you are worshpping but its not the true God.

“If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself.” -Tim Keller

So How do we worship?

Whole hearted worship is offensive

Whole hearted worship changes our focus and direction

2. God is Great Enough to Trust

Psalm 138:2–3 NIV

2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your solemn decree that it surpasses your fame. 3 When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me.

God says that He has so exalted his solemn decree that is surpasses His fame.

In other words, the integrity of God’s word is bound up within His very character.

It is to say that God can no more lie than He can cease being God.

Numbers 23:19 NIV

19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

When humans make a promise we can never guarantee it. Why? Because the fulfillment of our promises is always dependent on something outside of us. Even with the best intentions, we can’t control whether we live or die. We can’t control what people do. So, our word is never firm or truly dependable.

God’s word is always dependable because His promises do not depend on any other thing. God does not need any one’s permission or help. If God makes a promise it is done. It is never a matter of it with God, but when.

For people, often our promises exceed our own capabilities. How often has a poltician or leader made a promise of what they would do only to find out that they greatly underdelivered. We oversell ourselves and underperform.

This text says that God can never oversell himself. God always overperforms. Even His promises don’t capture the greatness of who He is. He greater still!

God is boundless, but yet He chooses to bind himself to something. He binds himself to His very promises to us.

We worship a boundless God who is binds Himself to His promises to us.

Psalm 119:89 NIV

89 Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.

Hebrews 6:17–18 NIV

17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.

NLT

17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.

The text says we hold to this hope. But I want to show that the greatness of our God provides a different kind of hope.

We Worship A God Who Provides A Different Kind of Hope

“I Hope”. Sometimes we associate our hopes with something we want, but don’t really believe will happen. Will our team win? We hope…we may not expect them to, but we want them to.

We typically use the word hope in three senses:

A desire for something good in the future

the thing in the future that we desire,

and the basis or reason for thinking that our desire may indeed be fulfilled.

“I hope I get the job”- I have a desire, but theres no certainty that it will come

“Our only hope is if a cure for this disease”- We have hope that if a cure comes we can be saved, but we have no confidence that the cure will come, or that it will do what we think it can.

Biblical hope is deeper than that. It is not simply to desire something good in the future..it is the confidence and expectation that it will come. Biblical hope is more than a longing, it is a certainty.

“Biblical hope not only desires something good for the future — it expects it to happen.”- John Piper

Desire and Expectation

Your hope in the things that you expect to fulfill your desires.

“You and I are unavoidably and irreducibly hope-based creatures. We are controlled in how we live now, by what we think will happen later.” -Tim Keller

Our God is the only God that is able to provide not a hope that desires good, but a hope that expects it.

Elijah and the prophets of Baal

3. God is Great Enough to Save Us

Psalm 138:3-8

Psalm 138:3–8 NIV

3 When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me. 4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord, when they hear what you have decreed. 5 May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great. 6 Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar. 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me. 8 The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.

Note the reasons why David praises this great God.

Notice what David reflects on that brings him to a place of adoration.

God hears the prayers of His people (vrs 3)

God humbles the prideful and exalts the humble. (vrs 4-6)

God preserves my life. (vrs. 7)

God made me (vrs. 8)