God can use any moment in time, and any person He wants, to proclaim His greatness and wonder to the world.
It was in Southern Sweden, in the year 1885 that a 26 year old man named Carl Boberg was walking towards his home with a group of his friends. The air was thick and the wind cool as birds perched in rich colored trees, singing beautifully with the renewing atmosphere. As Carl and his friends continued their walk, a thunderstorm suddenly appeared on the horizon. They hurried to shelter as loud claps of thunder and bright flashes of lightning filled the sky around them. With the storm came strong winds that pushed through the meadows and flowing fields of grain with fierce intensity. But soon, as swiftly as the storm had come, it also passed; leaving a clear sky and beautiful rainbow that Carl and his friends looked at with awe.
Once Carl reached his home, he opened a window that faced the sea, and took in the sound of church bells playing the tune of a hymn. All day he thought about what happened with the storm and the calm afterwards. The power that was displayed and the ease at which that same supremacy was peacefully reigned in with loving care, was overwhelming and eye opening.
It was a moment in time that Carl would never forget.
That evening, as the sun was beginning it’s disappearance below the same horizon the mighty storm had come from earlier, Carl sat down with paper and pencil to write out what was so heavy on his heart. As the words formed in his mind, he knew no other form of writing would suffice but a poem. He pressed the pencil to paper and let the words flow from his hand the origin of a poem that years later would be translated and composed to song.
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 savior God, to thee, How great thou art, How great thou art. Then sings my soul, My savior God, to thee, How great thou art, How great thou art!
God can use any moment in time, and any person He wants, to proclaim His greatness and wonder to the world.
As Courtney and I traveled to work this morning and heard Carl Boberg’s epic, “How Great Thou Art” on the radio, I was reminded of this truth. How a song is still so joyfully sung throughout the world, 134 years after it was first written, is proof of the call of God on our lives, and the never ending longevity of that purpose.
What is God calling you to do to proclaim His greatness and wonder to the world?
Will you be ready when He lines up the right time, and the moment, to inspire you to greatness for His name’s sake?
I hope I am.
I hope you are too.
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