Carl Boberg - How Great thou Art Lyrics
Lyrics
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
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!
And when I think of God, His Son not sparing; Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.
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 Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And lead me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, And then proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art!"
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!
Video
How Great Thou Art - Carl Boberg/Stuart K. Hine
Meaning & Inspiration
It’s funny how I’ve sung this my whole life, especially listening to this version from the 2005 Immeasurably More collection, but tonight it hit differently. You look at the sky or hear a storm and it’s so easy to just nod and say, sure, God made that. It’s like what the Psalmist wrote about the heavens declaring the glory of God. It makes sense, right? But then the song pivots. It moves from the stars to the cross, and that’s where my head starts to spin a bit. Thinking about God not sparing His own Son—it’s like Romans 8:32 says, He didn't spare Him, but delivered Him up for us all. I catch myself singing "I scarce can take it in" and realize I’m being honest for once. Do I actually take it in? Or is it just a line I know by heart?
It’s a heavy shift, going from the thunder to the blood on the cross. The connection feels so grounded in the idea that the same hand that hung the stars had to hold the weight of my sin. It makes the "greatness" mentioned in the chorus feel less like a pat on the back for God and more like a desperate realization of what He actually had to do. It’s a bit jarring, honestly. The song lands on the end, too—that bit about Christ coming back with a shout. It pulls the focus toward the future, that day of bowing down. I wonder if I’m really ready for that, or if I just like the melody of the promise. It’s hard to sit with the idea that the same God who is so big He orchestrates the universe is the one who was bled out on a cross for me. Does that even compute? I don't know. It’s supposed to be an anthem, but it feels more like a question I’m still trying to answer.