Blessed assurance – Day 5

The story of “How Great Thou Art” is a remarkable one. It starts with Carl Boberg, a young Swedish lay preacher who wrote a poem in 1886 entitled, O Store Gud, which means “O Great God”. The poem was published in a newspaper and promptly forgotten.

Years later, he was delighted to hear his poem being sung by a church congregation, to the tune of an old Swedish folk melody. From there, it was translated into German and then into English by Stuart Hine, before it was made hugely popular by Billy Graham’s crusades in the 1950s.

But there’s even more to the story.

In the 1930s, Sons of the Pioneers were just about the most popular country and western group in America. Tim Spencer was one of them. Tim married Velma, a Christian woman who prayed earnestly for him, especially while he was on the road. He needed all the prayer he could get, for his lifestyle was epitomised by the title of one of his hits: “Cigarettes, Whiskey, and Wild Wild Women”. Then, one day, in a hotel in Pennsylvania, Tim opened a letter from his wife, which included a verse of Scripture. Picking up a nearby Bible, Tim read the passage and surrendered his life to Christ.

Tim Spencer later established a gospel music publishing company, Manna Music, and a few years later, his son, Hal, brought him a song from a student missionary conference. Tim contacted the author of the words, Stuart Hine, and published the song. It became one of the most beloved hymns of the twentieth century. And that’s how the author of “Cigarettes, Whiskey, and Wild Wild Women” became the publisher who helped introduce the world to “How Great Thou Art”.

Carl Boberg, Tim Spencer and Billy Graham were generations and worlds apart, but they had one thing in common. They recognised the greatness of God. They saw it in the wonder of creation, in the big things like powerful storms and in the little things, like the veins of autumn leaves.

The greatness of God is evident in the smallest and most routine aspects of life. You just have to look.