The Story Behind the Song
Chris Tomlin (b. 1972) is a currently living and active worship songwriter and leader. His impact on today’s church has been enormous. In 2006, TIME magazine reported that he was “the most often sung contemporary artist in U.S. congregations every week.” The previous year, 2005, he had won the first of 23 (as of 2020) Dove Awards, accolades presented by the Gospel Music Association for outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry.
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Tomlin was nominated for ten Dove Awards in 2006 and won five of them—Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Special Event Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Worship Song of the Year. Those last two awards were both earned for the same song—“How Great Is Our God.” (That song would go on to win Doves for Worship Song of the Year in 2008 and, when performed by LaRue Howard, for Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year in 2009.)
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But “How Great Is Our God” is not just a song for trained musicians on stage to perform. It has become a staple in many congregations today. (Since its release in 2004, it has been published in ten hymnals and has consistently appeared in the top 20 of CCLI’s compilation of the most used songs. The most recent listing has it at #18 as of January 2021.)
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That’s due to Tomlin’s approach to song writing: “I try to think, How do I craft this song in a way that the person who’s tone-deaf and can’t clap on two and four can sing it?” He stated in another interview: “The thing I’m most proud of is the songs that find their way in the church. I don’t know if any of them will last down the way, but what I do strive for is playing a song people can sing…. So I’m not trying to write a pop song that lasts for three months. I really want to write things that find their way into church.” And that’s just what “How Great Is Our God” has done.
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The song first took form in Tomlin’s heart and mind as he mediated on scripture. “I remember sitting on my sofa in my little apartment. And Psalm 104 was the psalm I was looking at. It said, ‘You, our Lord, are very great. You’re clothed with splendor and majesty, wrap yourself with light as with a garment’ – through those opening verses and just describing a little bit of God, the glory of majesty, that little chorus came out. I started singing the chorus and, man, I had no idea, I thought the chorus was just a little simple thing and it was. And I had no idea it would become such a song in the church, and a song that finds its way in so many different cultures, different languages. It’s so transferrable, so accessible. I had no idea that it would ever become that.”
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If we’re not careful, we can allow our eyes to grow dim to the majesty of God. Especially for those who have known Him for quite some time, familiarity might not necessarily breed contempt, but it may breed complacency. To truthfully worship God, we must have an accurate understanding of Who He truly is. He’s not “the Man upstairs”; He is the One Who “reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt” (Psalm 93:1). He is not a distant, absent-minded grandfather Who has no idea what we’re going through; He is the One with “the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all” (1 Chronicles 29:11). Jesus is the King, clothed in Majesty, before Whom all the earth will one day bow. It is He of Whom we must say, “How great is our God!”
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