Psalm 92 New International Version

Psalm 92^[a]

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

¹ It is good to praise the Lord
    and make music to your name, O Most High,
² proclaiming your love in the morning
    and your faithfulness at night,
³ to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
    and the melody of the harp.

⁴ For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
    I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
⁵ How great are your works, Lord,
    how profound your thoughts!
⁶ Senseless people do not know,
    fools do not understand,
⁷ that though the wicked spring up like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
    they will be destroyed forever.

The Story Behind How Great Thou Art

Stuart K. Hine was a Bristish Methodist missionary on a mission trip in Ukraine in 2931 when he heard the Russian translation of a German song inspired by Carl Boberg’s poem “O Store Gud” (O Great God). Hine began to translation the song to English and added several verses. The third verse was inspired by the conversion of villagers in Russia who cried out to God loudly as the repented and realized God’s love and mercy – “And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.” 

Stuart Hine and his family left Ukraine as famine and World War Two began, and settled in Somerset, Britain where he continued to serve as a missionary to Polish refugees. The forth verse of “How Great Thou Art” was inspired by displaced Russians who experienced great loss and looked forward to seeing their loved ones again in heaven – “When Christ shall come with shoult of acclamation to take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.”

The final English version of “How Great Thou Art” was published in 1949 and quickly spread among Britian, Africa, India and America. 

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.

Chorus:
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, 
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, 
How great Thou art, How great Thou art! 

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander, 
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing; 
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; 
That on a Cross, my burdens gladly bearing, 
He bled and died to take away my sin.

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation, 
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration, 
And then proclaim: “My God, how great Thou art!”