One of my favourite hymns is "How Great Thou Art" and that had me wondering where the music and words originated.
According to Wikipedia this song is "based on a Swedish poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg (1859–1940) in Sweden in 1885. The melody is a Swedish folk song. (...) Boberg first published "O Store Gud" in the Mönsterås Tidningen (Mönsterås News) on 13 March 1886."
And in an article posted by David Neff on April 17th, 2013 he tells us that in North America it is the song most commonly associated with George Beverly Shea. Mr. Neff confirms that the words to the song where originally in a poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg in 1885. Mr Boberg was a Swedish pastor who was inspired to pen the words after being caught in a violent thunderstorm. Apparently Pastor Boberg was not so much scared by the violence of the storm but was filled with 'awe' - or 'wonder' by the power of the rain and wind, then by the rainbow after the storm, and then by that strange magical light over the landscape as the sun starts to dry out the drenched earth.
"O 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."
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed."
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| After a Storm. Singapore 2008 |
