Monday, December 18

HOW GREAT THOU ART

“May the glory of the Lord continue forever!  The Lord takes pleasure in all He has made!  The heavens proclaim the Glory of God.  The skies display His craftsmanship.  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.  I will praise my God to my last breath!”  Psalm 104:31-33 and Psalm 19:1

When we, the creation, gaze into the face of God, the Creator, there is only one thing we can say, “How Great Thou Art!”  The hymn itself begins one of its stanzas, “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder…”  God’s creation, the “works His hands have made”, screams of His intricate detailed design, and His perfectly well thought-out results.  Our thoughts shout, “I can hardly believe it!”, but somehow we do.

Look around.  Today, I was in a doctor’s office, and a poster on the wall caught my attention.  It was the diagram of the human brain, and its anatomy.  Such detail made me think of the Almighty Mind that was behind this invention, and to think it was all formed from clay by His tender hand.  The Maker has made billions of these, and keeps them running, all at the same time!  How Great Thou Art….

This hymn has meant much to me from the time I was six or seven years old.  In my Dad’s first church, I would stand and sing it, belting it out, with a child-like understanding of each of its words.  I guess I thought of God as the Heavenly Artist, and I sang to Him, that His work was Great!  My God, How Great Thou Art.  As a little “crayon artist” and painter, I sang the words, “How Great Thou Art”, putting a different meaning to the word “art.”  He does all things well, including His Artwork.  To this day, as I let my surroundings catch my eye; the “paintings” of God do not go unnoticed.  They are flawless.

I think of this song as a crescendo.  As it reaches the third verse, it spikes up into the Highest Heaven, and demonstrates the deepest form of God’s love, when it shouts… “And when I think that God His Son not sparing…”  It fills me with wonder as the truth sinks in, that He gladly bore my burden and canceled my sin.  Again, our thoughts shout, “I can hardly believe it!  I scarce can take it in!”  But somehow we do.  Wonder.  That is the theme; that is the purpose.  Look around, and you will sing with my soul, “My Savior God to Thee, How Great Thou Art!  How Great Thou Art!”  Bow and believe.

~ Kara Heather Warren