A.J.H.

Stuart Hine was a missionary from England who worked in the Ukraine. He traveled from village to village telling people about the Lord Jesus Christ. His great desire was for men and women to learn of the love of God in giving His Son on Calvary.

In one village, he stood in a street, sang a gospel hymn, and preached from John 3 to all who would listen . But as he preached, storm clouds gathered and he had to find shelter. He was able to find it in the home of a school master. As the thunder roared through the village, Hine said, "Awe-inspiring was the mighty thunder echoing through the mountains." The greatest and the majesty of God's creation touched his heart and reminded Him that a great creation means that there is a great God behind it.

From this area, Hine went on to Romania. Here for the first time he heard people singing a Russian poem - "O Great God". With the memory of the awe inspiring storm fresh in his mind and the words of a Russian poem now upon his ears, there suddenly was born in his heart and mind the words of a hymn which have been sung ever since:

O Lord My God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hands have made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed.

When thro' the woods of forest glade I wander
And 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,..

Later in his missionary work he met a man and his wife who, having owned a Bible for twenty years, were not able to read it. The year that the missionary came into the village was the very year the woman had determined that she would learn to read the Bible. Slowly she struggled with the new skill of reading. To practice, she read the Bible aloud to others in the village. When she came to the story of the crucifixion, those listening fell to their knees crying to God.

Into this scene walked Stuart Hine. As people learned of the love and grace of God displayed at Calvary, Hine was stirred to compose the third stanza of his hymn:

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.

As you and I look around at the world which God has prepared for us, we learn that God is great and mighty. But it is when we look at what this world did to His Son, what we did to the Creator-Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, that we learn how great good, and loving God is. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.