I Stand Amazed in the Presence
This page includes a lyric video, history, sheet music, and other resources for the classic hymn “I Stand Amazed in the Presence.” Enjoy!
Enjoy this You Tube video, performed by Hymn Charts, with lyrics for “I Stand Amazed in the Presence.”
History of “I Stand Amazed in the Presence”
Words and Music “My Savior’s Love” by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (1856-1932), Published in 1905
Charles Hutchinson Gabriel was born to an Iowa farmer who also taught at a singing school. He was one of seven children. Charles grew up with music, and at 15 years of age, he announced that he wanted to be a songwriter – an aspiration that his mother encouraged. While working all day on the family farm, Charles would compose melodies in his mind and then write them down in the evening.1
Sadly, when Charles was 16, his father died. Charles stepped up to take his father’s place as a teacher in the local singing school, but after a year, he left his hometown for other teaching opportunities; he continued teaching for over 10 years. He published his first hymn as a teenager, and by his early 20s, he published a songbook called “Gabriel’s Sabbath School Songs.”
By the time Charles was in his 30s, his name was well recognized in the field of gospel music. He was active in helping with evangelistic crusades, and he wrote many of the songs that the famous evangelist Billy Sunday used at his revival meetings. After serving as a church music director in California, Charles moved to Chicago “to be closer to music houses and publishers of religious music.”2 He became an editor at the famous Homer Rodeheaver Publishing Company and maintained a relationship with the company until his death.3
Throughout his life, Gabriel was prolific as both a writer and composer. His works number in the thousands. He also edited dozens of books of religious music. Music historian Kevin Mungons notes that Charles “earned a unique place in American hymn writing because he was equally capable of crafting a great lyric or a great melody.”4
Charles is perhaps best remembered for this hymn “I Stand Amazed in the Presence,” and his composition for the hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (which Charles said was a personal favorite).5
Lyrics for “I Stand Amazed in the Presence”:
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
Refrain
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
Refrain
In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.
Refrain
He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.
Refrain
When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.
Refrain
Additional Resources for “I Stand Amazed in the Presence”:
Sheet Music (PDF Compliments of Hymnary.org)
Guitar Chords (Links to Ultimate Guitar)
Visit Hymnary.org or Hymn Time.com for more on this hymn.
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Sources:
1 “Famous Iowans, Charles Gabriel,” The Des Moines Register.
2 Ibid.
3 Reynolds, William Jensen. Hymns of Our Faith. Broadman Press, 1964, p. 295.
4 Famous Iowans.
5 Famous Iowans.