WORSHIP REFLECTIONS are weekly devotionals based on worship songs/hymns. Our hope is that this content encourages your love and adoration of Christ Jesus as you grow in closer communion with Him through personal worship.
Bria Blessing, Singer/Songwriter/Worship Leader in Ukraine & United States, presents this worship song devotional based on the hymn, "How Great Thou Art".
Also available in Ukrainian (visit youtube.com/worshipquest)
“How Great Thou Art” is one of my all–time favorite hymns, and I know I’m not alone in that because apparently “How Great Thou Art” has been “rated”—I don’t know how scientific this rating system is—but apparently it’s considered one of the most well–known and beloved hymns/worship songs the world over. And I believe it because it’s such a great centering song. It reminds us to put our eyes on the Lord and his greatness and stop thinking that the world is all about us, you know?
For me this song took on really special significance because I spent most of my life in Ukraine on the mission field. And you’re probably wondering, “ok, what does “How Great Thou Art” have to do with Ukraine?” Well, let me tell you!
“How Great Thou Art” was written by a Swede; it was originally a Swedish hymn. Someone translated it into Russian; we still didn’t even have an English version. An English missionary to Ukraine heard “How Great Thou Art” in Russian for the first time and decided to write an English version of it. And that’s where we get our English version—“How Great Thou Art”! Which I just thought is such a cool picture, and it’s so fitting that a song called “How Great Thou Art” was written in such an international way, showing us how big God really is. That this Christian Swede wrote a hymn that was translated in Russian, an Englishman heard it in Ukraine, wrote an English version that we now sing in America (or wherever we are)—it just is such a cool reminder of how big and outside of everything and within everything God is.
This world, it seems, is just trying to at every turn convince us that we are central, that we are key, that everything is about us. And I think that’s where a lot of the chaos comes into our lives and to our hearts and to our spirits—because we’re trying to make something that is so big fit into our little worlds. And it won’t work. And things start feeling out of control and overwhelming. But when we sing lyrics like “O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made”, the stars, and when we start to look at everything he’s made and consider how big he is, suddenly we realize we don’t have to hold on to all of this stuff we’re holding onto. We can release it into his hands because his hands are capable—they hold us, they hold our little worlds, they hold all of the worlds around us. He’s capable.
I was reading this morning in Psalm 8 and 9, and a few verses here are just such a good picture of how big he is and how trustworthy he is, and worthy he is of our trust and our praise and that we would live for his glory and not for our own. In Psalm 8, verse 3 it says, “When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place, what is a human being that you [even] remember us; a son of man that you look after us?” Psalm 9, verse 1, “I will thank the Lord with all my heart, I will declare all your wondrous works, I will rejoice and boast about you, I will sing about your name, Most High.” And in a world that just, oh gosh, is just constantly telling us to seek our glory, the glory for our names, you know? To get more likes and to get more well–known—especially for songwriters and singers and, you know, “performers”, and people who stand on stages, you know—tries to tell us that “you just need more glory, more fame”. And we lose ourselves in that stuff because that’s not what we were created for. We were created by a great God who’s writing a great story that we get to be a part of. And that’s such an amazing realization. And when we realize that, everything just becomes centered and prioritized, and we can rest and relax in the hands of this great God who’s holding everything. And we don’t have to worry about it or be afraid.
Be encouraged today that your story is a part of the story of the greatness of God, and rest in that and release everything into his capable hands.
How great Thou art!
— Bria Blessing, Singer/Songwriter