by Angela Moreno

Praise and worship is an important part of our relationship with God. Singing gets us ready for the sermon that is coming. We are more open to the moving of the Holy Spirit and are hearts are ready to hear the message the pastor has for us.

We sing songs every Sunday morning and we don’t always know the meaning behind the song. Three of the most popular hymns have interesting stories to go with the song. Today we are going to look at the stories behind Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, and It is Well with My Soul.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace was written by John Newton and first released in 1776 and was written from his personal experiences. Newton was heavily involved in the slave trade. During one of his trips, a violent storm shook the boat he was on and scared him so badly that he called out to God to save them. This marked Newton’s transformation from slave trader into a Christian.

Soon after, Newton studied theology and began preaching. Amazing Grace originally was a sermon that Newton preached on New Year’s Day in 1773. It’s not known if any music was accompanying Amazing Grace at this time. The sermon Amazing Grace was first distributed in print.  Music was added at a later time and the song is associated with more than 20 different melodies.

How Great Thou Art

How Great Thou Art was written in 1885 by Gustav Boberg. The song was originally written in Swedish and was later translated by missionary Stuart K. Hines who added 2 verses to the song.

The song was inspired when Boberg was walking home and was listening to church bells. A thunderstorm suddenly appeared. Thunder, rain, and wind suddenly appeared and just as suddenly disappeared. Boberg was amazed at how severe the storm was and how quickly the weather turned calm and a rainbow appeared.

According to Boberg’s great nephew, the song is a paraphrase of Psalm 8.

It is Well with My Soul

It is Well with My Soul was first published in 1876 and written by Horatio Spafford. Many traumatic events occurred in Spafford’s life. His two year old son died in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Spafford was a successful attorney at this time and owned most of the real estate that was burned in the Great Chicago Fire. Not only did he lose his son, he was ruined financially by the fire.

In 1873 he and his family were to travel to Europe. Because of business obligations, Spafford stayed behind. The ship carrying his family to Europe ended up sinking and his 4 daughters died.  His wife was the only survivor from the ship.

Amazingly after loosing 5 children to tragedies, Spafford wrote It is well with My Soul. Spafford and his wife had 3 more children. However, tragedy would strike again when his son died of scarlet fever in 1880. The church he attended told Spafford that the tragedies occurring in his life was divine judgment from God.  Spafford and his family moved to Jerusalem and started another church there.

Next time you hear your favorite hymn, do some research on the background of the song.  You may find an interesting story to go along with it.  Next time you hear one of these three songs, let’s appreciate the stories behind the song and how the gospel changed the lives of these 3 people. Their songs live on as a testimony of their life and the transformation that took place that forever changed history.  Don’t forget to tell your story and change history.