Then Sings My Soul

I was SO excited when I got the mail today. I got my copy of Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan through paperbackswap. It is 150 of the world's greatest hymns and the stories behind them. I bought a copy of this several years ago but ended up giving it to a friend. This one is even better than my original because it has a cd with the songs on it. So if you pass me driving down the road singing at the top of my lungs you know what I'm probably listening to. I love going to the contemporary service at church but I miss singing some of the old hymns. So, I can sing them to myself here at home.

As you may have already guessed the book is named after a line from the song How Great Thou Art. But where did we get the song? Well it was written as a poem by Carl Boberg a 26 year old Swedish minister. After it was published he assumed it was 'forgotten' only to hear it sung to the tune of an old Swedish melody. An English missionary heard this hymn while in Russia and was so moved to expand the words and adapt the arrangement of the Swedish melody. His first line is inspired by Russia's rugged Carpathian Mountains. Still the hymn did not catch on. Dr. J. Edwin Orr heard the hymn sung by Naga Tribespeople in Assam, in India and brought it back for use in his own meetings. It was then that it was finally copyrighted, published and recorded. Finally during the 1954 Billy Graham Crusade in Harringay Arena, George Beverly Shea was given a leaflet with the hymn in it. In the 1957 crusade Bev Shea sang the hymn 99 times with a choir joining in on the refrain.

Here are the words to a very well traveled hymn.

O Lord my God,
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all
The works Thy Hand hath made,
I see the stars,
I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy pow'r throughout
The universe displayed;

Refrain:
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 through the woods
And forest glades I wander
I hear the birds
Sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down
From lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook
And feel the gentle breeze;

Refrain:
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
that 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.

Refrain:
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 shouts of acclamation,
And take me home,
What joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim,
"My God, how great Thou art!"

Refrain:
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!