Hymn: How Great Thou Art

Oh, Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, 

consider all the worlds Thy hands have made.

I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on How Great Thou Art since it is the namesake of the blog.  My God, how great Thou art!

The first line of this hymn takes about awesome wonder.  Awesome is an extremely overused and abused word.  We rarely consider that, because every time we see something that we think is nifty or cool, we deem it awesome.  

Have you ever watched ABC's the Bachelor or the *Bachelorette?  They throw the word awesome around almost to the point that it is meaningless.  This date was AWESOME.  That guy was AWESOME.  Making out with what's-his-face was AWESOME.

I will admit to my own personal abuse and misuse of the word awesome.

The dictionary gives us this definition of awe:

"An overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc."

Awesome would suggest something that inspires those feelings.  I doubt when the bachelorette is on a date, she is overcome with reverence, admiration or fear for the lad that she is with.

When the writer of this hymn talks about awesome wonder, they are talking about a feeling that completely covers you, almost paralyzes you, it is so strong.  It is a feeling that makes us drop to our knees.  It is a feeling that leaves us without the words to describe the situation.  

    

God is all powerful.  He is graciously majestic, beautiful and strong.  In His presence we should be in awesome wonder of who He is.  

~SP

*To be perfectly honest, I watch the Bachelorette.  So no condemnation intended to anyone who enjoys a good rose ceremony : ).