Did You Know…
Many of our popular hymns have interesting backstories.
The song I Know Whom I Have Believed was written by a Union soldier during the Civil War, who was held as a prisoner of war and became a believer while praying for another dying soldier.
Hymn writer Fanny Crosby was blind from infancy yet was able to memorize the first five books of the Bible, the four Gospels, the Proverbs, and most of the Psalms.
But one song in particular, of which many of us have grown to adore, has an inspiring origin.
Carl Boberg, a newspaper editor, and member of the Swedish Parliament, being inspired by the sound of church bells ringing during a wild thunderstorm, penned the poem, O Great God. When O Great God was published, the poem did not catch on and it seemed destined to be forgotten. However, three years later someone liked it enough to match the words with a Swedish melody. Boberg published the poem again in 1891 – this time in the form of a song.
A few decades later in the 1930s, English missionary Stuart Hine heard the song while in Poland. He was deeply moved, translated the song to English and took it home with him to England. In English, the song was now called How Great Thou Art.
Moving on to the 1940s, an evangelist heard this song being sung by native tribal people in India, of all places! The evangelist, Dr. Edwin Orr, was deeply inspired and brought the song to the United States. In 1954 the song found its way into the hands of George Beverly Shea, who sang it over 100 times in Billy Graham’s 1957 New York crusade. In 1959 it became the theme song for Billy Graham’s weekly radio broadcast.
The song later became recognized by ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) as “The All-Time Outstanding Gospel Song” in America. How Great Thou Art has consistently been listed as one of the greatest hymns ever written, usually falling in second place right behind Amazing Grace, and has been recorded over 1,800 times in the last 50 years. Many of you have no doubt heard the recordings by Elvis Presley and it was also recorded in 2017 by popular country artist Alan Jackson.
How astonishing that this song started as a poem in a small Swedish town and somehow wound its way around the globe to become a great hymn of the faith.