I Sing the Mighty Power of God

I sing the mighty pow’r of God	Ps. 21:13; Rom. 1:20
that made the mountains rise,	Ps. 65:6; 104:8
that spread the flowing seas abroad	Ps. 104:6
and built the lofty skies.	Gen. 1:7; Ps. 68:34; Is. 40:22
I sing the wisdom that ordained	Ps. 104:24; Prov. 8:27
the sun to rule the day;	Gen. 1:16; Ps. 136:8
the moon shines full at his command	Ps. 148:5
and all the stars obey.
I sing the goodness of the Lord	Acts 14:17
that filled the earth with food;	Ps. 136:25
he formed the creatures with his word,	Gen. 1:24; John 1:3
and then pronounced them good.	Gen. 1:25; 1 Tim. 4:4
Lord, how your wonders are displayed
where’er I turn my eye,	Job 38; Ps. 104
if I survey the ground I tread
or gaze upon the sky!
There’s not a plant or flow’r below
but makes your glories known;
and clouds arise and tempests blow	Ps. 107:25; 148:8; Jon. 1:4
by order from your throne;	Matt. 8:27
while all that borrows life from you
is ever in your care,	Gen. 9:9–17; Job 38:41; Matt. 6:26
and everywhere that man can be,	Ps. 139:7–12
you, God, are present there.	Jer. 23:24; Acts 17:27

Lyrics

This hymn by Isaac Watts is a celebration of God as He has manifested Himself in creation. It is neatly divided into two halves. The first half celebrates three attributes of God manifest in creation, and the second half celebrates the pervasiveness of this revelation.

The three attributes this hymn celebrates are God’s power, wisdom, and goodness, each in four poetic lines (a quatrain) beginning with “I sing.” And in each quatrain, Watts mentions those parts of creation that particularly reveal that attribute. These three attributes, power, wisdom, and goodness, are commonly associated with God’s revelation in nature (see 2^nd London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1.1).

The power of God is made manifest in His creation of the mountains, seas, and sky. These are the most uncontrollable parts of creation for human beings. The mountains stand and the best we can do is dig a little tunnel through them. The seas are still wild and dangerous. Nearly everything we can see in our night sky lies forever beyond our reach. Yet for God, they are not so. His power encompasses them all because He made them all.

The wisdom of God is manifest in the regular ordering of the sun, moon, and stars. These great luminaries are set on their course by God and keep times and seasons (Gen. 1:14) in obedience to Him.

Finally, in this hymn, we sing of God’s goodness. God created a beautiful world filled with good food for His creatures. The hymn reflects on God’s sevenfold pronouncement in Genesis 1, “and God saw that it was good.” This echoes Paul’s saying in 1 Tim. 4:4, “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.”

From a celebration of God’s attributes in three quatrains, the hymn moves to three quatrains celebrating the pervasiveness of this revelation. Whether we turn our eyes up to the heavens or down to the earth, whether we consider the plant and flower or cloud and wind, we see creation declaring the glory of its Creator. Truly, God has not left Himself without a witness (Acts 14:17).

This hymn allows us to wonder at the world God has made and celebrate how it reveals its Creator, our God.

Poetry

This hymn is a wonderful example of simple, thoughtful poetry that serves well for congregational singing. Each stanza is in common meter double, which means the syllable count for the stanza is 8.6.8.6 repeated twice. In addition, each line is in very regular iambic meter, meaning it is stressed-unstressed, ba-BUM ba-BUM ba-BUM ba-BUM. The singer is not meant to notice these things, precisely because they allow the song to be sung so easily. More often than not, it is poor meter and rhythm that stands out in a song.

The rhyme scheme is also very regular. The first and third lines and the second and fourth lines of each quatrain rhyme (A.B.A.B.). The only exception to this rhyme scheme is in the final quatrain, “you” and “be” do not rhyme.

But why is rhyming important anyway? In our hymn it does a number of things. First, it is beautiful. There is a satisfying nature to the rhyming of words and sounds that helps distinguish poetry from plain prose. Second, it is memorable. A consistent rhyme scheme helps the word of God dwell in our hearts richly (Col. 3:16) because it sticks in our minds. There is a reason Dr. Suess books rhyme! Third, it is structural. The rhyme scheme neatly divides this psalm into quatrains, each of which expresses a distinct unit of thought. When the rhyme scheme restarts, it gives the singers a subtle clue that a new unit has begun.

Finally, the imagery of this psalm is not expressed primarily in metaphors or similes, but by turning our mind’s eye to the glories of the creation we live in every day. The psalm calls into our minds our experience with mountains and seas, it reminds us of sunrises, sunsets, and starry vistas, it evokes the gentle flower and the tempestuous storm. The hymn does employ a few metaphors and two of them stand out. First, God is portrayed as a master-building. It is He who built the lofty skies. Second, God is portrayed as the sovereign king, delivering orders from His throne. These two metaphors fit well with a hymn reflecting on God’s glory in creation.

Music

In our hymnals, this hymn is set to the tune Ellacombe. Like many wonderful hymns, this tune is in barform. It begins with a musical line (A) which is repeated, then a developing different musical line (B), and closes with a repetition of the first musical line (A). So, the form is A.A.B.A. This tune combines simplicity with stateliness, allowing it to be sung by the congregation but also making it fit for such an exalted hymn.

You can listen to the tune (below) and use it to help you sing this hymn in family worship this week!

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Overall, this hymn allows us, God’s people, to marvel at and sing the glory of our Creator God in His creation. Let us sing it out on Sunday!