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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

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Happy Wednesday y'all. This week on the Daily Blade, we're looking at five of my favorite hymns of all time and we're digging into the lyrics and the biblical truths therein. Also, I'm giving you guys my picks for the best versions of each of those songs. Now, today is a special day because it's a day that the Lord has made right, but also it's a special day because it's my birthday y'all. So happy birthday me. So, as is my God-given right on my birthday, I'm going to be a little selfish. So before I go and eat my weight in the best banana pudding in the world, which is actually downstairs right now and it's being made by my wife, I need to tell y'all about my favorite hymn, which is how Great Thou Art. So this hymn was derived from a poem called oh Great God, which was written by a young Swedish preacher named Carl Gustav Boberg, and, as the story goes, he wrote the poem down after a sudden thunderstorm and the following calm. So it actually caused Boberg to reflect on God's mighty power and his creation. And the best version of this song dare I say the greatest live performance of any song ever was by Oklahoma's very own Carrie Underwood, and Oklahoma's very own Vince Gill, who is probably the most underrated country music artist of all time in my opinion, and it was performed during the Academy of Country Music event that was held in 2011. Seriously, guys, go watch it on YouTube. It is absolutely incredible. If you don't tear up while watching it, you might be dead.

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So here are the lyrics, and I'll just read the refrain once at the end oh Lord, my God, when I, in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds, thy. Once at the end, I hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze, 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. When Christ shall come with shout 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. Then sings my soul, my Savior, god to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior, god to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art. I mean, I just guys, I can't even. It's so stinking good, like, what an amazing psalm.

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Now we don't have a lot of time and I'm gonna, you know, I'm not gonna talk any slower, so you guys are just gonna need to listen a little faster. But this hymn is absolutely chock full of biblical truth. So, verse 1, you know we're talking about God's creation and sovereignty. The lyric here O Lord, my God, when I, in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made, I mean that's Genesis 1.1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But also Psalm 8, verses three and four, when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, then we get into verse two nature, basically, you know, reflecting the majesty of God. The lyric is when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, you have that entire verse.

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I look at Job 12, verses 7 through 10. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee and I'm reading from the King James Version it seems appropriate considering this one and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee, or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee. And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. You know, this is our redemption through Christ. The lyric is God his son, not sparing, sent him to die, obviously the most famous verse ever, probably at least in America, is John 3, 16. For those for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Then in verse four we see you know, this is Jesus's second coming the lyric when Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home. We look at first Thessalonians 4, verses 16 and 17. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

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And then we get to the refrain, probably the best refrain that I can think of in music, certainly in hymns full-on praise and worship, guys, I mean. Then sings my soul, my Savior, god, to thee, how great thou art. So go to Psalm 145, verse 3,. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. So, guys, you could spend the rest of the year just focusing in on the scriptural truths in this psalm alone and still not get all the way through it, but I'll leave you with this. The world is obsessed with greatness, right? I mean it's all over the place Like it's the goat debates for sports or movies or music or whatever. And for men, many of us have even fallen victim to the siren song of the pursuit of personal glory. Right, glory for our name. But there is only one who is worthy of the title great, and that is our God, and our souls should sing to him.

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Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.