Then Sings My Soul ; How Great thou Art

This week’s message will use the hymn “How Great Thou Art” as a launching pad to talk about God’s character as it is revealed through creation and another special source.

Whereas the hymn from last week was written quite some time ago, this one was first published in English in 1949. Stuart Kline was a missionary working among Russians when he heard the Russian translation of the German song that is the basis for the hymn. He began to translate it into English and added two more verses—one on the gospel and the other verse after some Russians were displaced by World War II and knew one day, Christ would come and take them home Like the other hymns we’ve featured, the truth it contains is timeless because it contains the same truths we see in Scripture.

God is Revealed in All Things

In Romans 1, Paul is explaining why the gospel is good news. Early into the letter, he makes the case that everyone is without excuse for their disbelief because they’ve all been told about God

Romans 1:19–20 ESV

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

How is that possible? Paul proceeds to make the case for what is known as “general revelation.” That is, God has revealed himself through his creation. It is general because it is evident to all.

Consider an artist like Bob Ross: he is famous for his natures capes, his distinctive “wet on wet” style of painting, and for his signature at the bottom of every painting that lets people know who created this work of art.

Paul is saying this world that God has made is constructed the same way: we can clearly see who the Creator is, and so we have a knowledge of God just by observing this world. A surgeon once wrote to John Stott and said, “I am filled with the same awe and humility when I contemplate something of what goes on in a single cell as when I contemplate the sky on a clear night. The coordination of the complex activities of the cell in a common purpose hits the scientific part of me as the best evidence for an Ultimate Purpose” That is what Paul is talking about in those two verses in Romans.

Now many of you may be saying what does this have to do with Father’s Day? Well I believe that not only has God given us revelation about Himself in creation, that He has given us revelation about Himself through Fathers.

God Is Revealed Through Fathers

A Godly Father Teaches

Your child’s education is not the responsibility of the school or the church. Those are just supplements. Kids only spend about 10 percent of their childhood hours at school,* meaning they are learning from you 90 percent of the time.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

“Train(ing) up a child in the way he should go” is less about arithmetic or algebra and more about learning God’s Word.

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 ESV

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

That’s the 90 percent: your kids are always learning, so you should always be teaching (and living it out).

A Godly Father Provides an Example Worth Following

You can’t be a godly father unless you live out what it means to be a godly man. That’s because, although kids may fail to do what you say, they rarely fail to do what you do. And no matter how much you try to teach them something, they will be unlikely to listen if they see you doing the opposite. They are little hypocrisy detectors, and even if they don’t say anything about it now, it will definitely show up in their behavior later. They won’t behave because they won’t believe;

Romans 2:21–24 ESV

you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

On the other hand, if you do live out what you teach, your children will benefit:

Proverbs 20:7 ESV

The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!

A Godly Father Disciplines His Children

The “D” word here is not always popular, both because it is not fun (for the parent or the kid) and because there are some bad examples of how some ungodly, unloving fathers use it as an excuse for abuse. However, godly fathers (including God the Father) discipline out of love. When a child is insistent on heading down a harmful path, the most loving thing you can do is to correct them; it would be unloving to not provide discipline.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

Discipline should be fair; when done unfairly, inconsistently, or hypocritically, it can rightly frustrate your children. Done correctly, discipline is only momentarily unpleasant and brings about long-term benefits.

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

A Godly Father Loves His Children

The motivation behind all of this—disciplining, modeling, teaching—is love. A godly father loves his children, and therefore desires what is best for them.

3 John 4 ESV

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

If you love someone, you will build a relationship with them. It means you have to spend time with your kids. The first rule of parenting is that you must be present to win. Having an absent father is one of the surest predictors of all kinds of negative outcomes for children; being physically present but emotionally uninvolved or uninterested in their lives can’t be much better.

If you don’t actively love your children—or don’t make it clear that you love them—then they won’t want to listen when you try to teach them.

1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

They will have no reason to trust your discipline, and they would be better off not following your example.

A Godly Father Prays

To be a godly father, you need God’s help. You can’t do it by yourself. None of us are perfect dads; we are all works in progress. And despite the huge influence you have on your children, you don’t actually control them. You can do everything right as a parent and still potentially have a prodigal son. After all, God actually is a perfect Father, and we still all rebel against Him at times in our lives.

Therefore, out of love for your kids, you should pray.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV

pray without ceasing,

Pray with your children and for your children. Pray that they would grow to follow God and trust in Him. Pray for yourself, that you would know how to be a good father.