Tuesday, February 18, 2020

A story of the hymn, "I Stand in Awe"


When he was in his teens and early twenties, Mark Altrogge thought of making rock-and-roll music as a career. If the Beatles could do it, why couldn’t he? But when, at the age of twenty-four, he became a Christian, he realized that he would have to surrender himself totally to Jesus Christ. Now, his attention was fixed, not on the Beatles, but on the holiness of God, and he was reading books like The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer and The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul.

God is infinite, and Mark says, “We will never come to an end of learning new things about him.” Thinking about the greatness of God, Mark sat down with his guitar and tried to put some of his thoughts into music. Gradually the song was born. He says, “‘I Stand in Awe’ was born out of the emotional impact that the doctrine of God’s holiness had on me.”

Scriptures: Psalm 99:3, 9; Psalm 111:9; 1 Peter 1:15-16
Themes: Worship, God the Father, Holiness of God

Lyrics of the Hymn:
You are beautiful beyond description,
Too marvelous for words,
Too wonderful for comprehension,
Like nothing ever seen or heard.
Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beautiful beyond description,
Majesty enthroned above.

And I stand, I stand in awe of You,
I stand, I stand in awe of You.
Holy God to whom all praise is due,
I stand in awe of You, I stand in awe of You.
By MARK ALTROGGE (B. 1950) © 1987 Sovereign Grace Praise/BMI (Admin. by Integrity’s Praise! Music) All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Reference for the Hymn Story:
Petersen, William. The Complete Book of Hymns (p. 40). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Link to Listen to the Song:



No comments:

Post a Comment