How Great Thou Art

He Made the Stars Also!

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments 
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, 
and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 
Genesis 1:16

In many hymns we sing about how great God is, and especially in the song, “How Great Thou Art.” Those lyrics remind me of my Sunday afternoons, when I was a small boy. For some reason, my parents decided that Sunday afternoons were a great time for me to memorize Genesis chapter one. I’m not sure if they really cared so much about me learning scripture, of if they just figured it was good discipline for a busy nine-year-old. While I slogged through the process, I was always quite impressed with the verse that said:  “And God said let there be light.” and POW- there was light! I imagined God’s Spirit moving over vast dark ocean waves while God wrestled with the mysterious elements of the creation. I could just picture how after the light, came the oceans, then fish, birds, animals and finally man. After reading about all of God’s impressive accomplishments, we come to the tail end of verse sixteen, where it says, “He made the stars also.” This final act of creation is added almost as an afterthought, but today, after more than 60 years I know that in that snippet of a verse when God spoke, that trillions and trillions of stars came exploding into the universe. At those times when I see the enormity of God’s creation, the words of the hymn come back, “I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder.” and I am stunned that our mighty creator God has chosen to love people like you and me. Though we cannot with even our most advanced instruments see the farthest star, God calls every one of them by name and He calls us by name as well. Then this mighty loving creator God paused, took a deep breath, and then “He made the stars also!”

I see the stars; I hear the rolling thunder. 
His power throughout the universe displayed.
How Great Thou Art by Carl Boberg 1886

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork . 
Psalm 19:1 NKJV

Hymns Connecting Generations

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Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord - Ephesians 5:19 NKJV

It is almost Thanksgiving, which in my calendar means slowly switching from the hymns to Christmas Carols. But before bidding adieu to In the Garden, How Great Thou Art and Amazing Grace, I wanted to take a moment to write about the connecting power of hymns. First of all, I did not grow up listening to hymns. To be sure the choir sang something at the Congregational church where I attended with my family, however I had no idea what they were singing. The ancient stone building echoed so that I assumed they might have been singing in Latin. The first time I heard a hymn I could understand was when I was nineteen years old. As a child of the 60’s I grew up listening to the Beatles, Stones, Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel and Joni Mitchel. So, when I gave my life to Christ at a Pentecostal church, I was amazed to hear their camp meeting hymns along with the early praise choruses that eventually led to the contemporary Christian music of today. The most delightful thing of all was that everybody sang. Old folks and young folks all looked like they were having a great time. The music helped to connect generations and some of the rowdiest of the bunch were often the old timers! A hearty HAAAALEEEELUUUUJAH! would sometimes suddenly arise from the sweetest old lady or grey-haired saint, right in the middle of a verse, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up!

I remember we had two song books in those days. There was a large, hard covered hymnal as well as a small soft covered chorus book. When the worship leader would call out, “Please turn to number 439”, I always marveled at the number of songs between those covers. Today, I realize that just counting Charles Wesley and Fanny Crosby, there are thousands to choose from, and when you sprinkle in America the Beautiful, Christmas carols, Easter hymns and Amazing Grace, it makes you realize that what we hold in our hands is only the tip of the iceberg of what has been left to us through 2,000 years of church history. And these songs connect us, not only to the generations who sit in the seat next to us, but also to everyone who has ever put their faith in Christ. We are reminded that Martin Luther, John Newton, Saint Patrick and Isaac Watts are still living and singing with us in the unseen choir loft of Heaven. More importantly these precious words and melodies of our “Rock of Ages cleft for me”, who is “Perfect in power in love and purity.” also connect us to Jesus Christ. They remind us that “We have decided to follow Jesus” and that we must “Surrender all to Thee my precious Savior!” and will joyfully “Crown Him with many crowns!” They tell us about “What a day that will be, when our Jesus we will see!” and that forever “He will walk with me and talk with me and tell me that I am His own!”

In Everything Give Thanks

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Most of us know that we need to be thankful in every situation. But maybe we try and fail sometimes because we forget that thankfulness that is only once piece of a big puzzle. Finding where it will fit in our lives includes reading what comes before the well known verse in Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be joyful always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Wow! That all sounds like a pretty tall order in 2020 as some of us are wondering if they’ll even let us sit down at the table with our own families. But God never intended to simply leave off a few instructions for us to do and then leave town. No Jesus is right here with us and we can begin rejoicing when we remember that he came. Then we can pray because He gave us His Holy Spirit who is teaching us how to pray every day. And now we can give thanks because no matter what…Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so!!

I hope you like the video for this coming week. I break into the Christmas carol bin for Joy to the World. How Great Thou Art seemed appropriate as we remember God’s goodness even in what seems a horrible year and Jesus Loves Me is always my own go-to song whenever I am facing confusing or difficult times. I know He is always by my side and that no matter how old I get, I am still His child!! Be blessed. Have a great week-end everybody!

https://youtu.be/j4Xqqci0zTo