How Great?

The opening ponderance on God (sometimes it’s called worship, sometimes devotion) is fairly typical at most Lutheran teacher gatherings. Sometimes the style is “blended”, but more often than not it is “contemporary”. Today I was somewhat surprised, as it was “blended” as opposed to the out-and-out contemporary I expected. It was a pastor and a man with a guitar. We first sang a hymn, next we sang a praise song.
After being taught the song, which was singable enough (most praise songs tend to be singable if the leader sings it properly—just don’t try to actually count out the rhythm unless you are really good at counting sixteenth notes and dotted quarter rests), but the words left me with one question: Why?
The refrain was as follows:
How great is our God!
Sing with me how great is our God
And all will see how great
How great is our God.
The text of the song did have some nice, poetic imagery which somewhat echoed the imagery of the Psalms. The last verse, surprisingly, referenced the Father, Spirit, and Son (in that order to get the rhyme scheme correct). What was never there was an explanation.
Nobody ever explained to me during middle school that when one makes an argument, one has to have support. This was a challenge in further writing classes when I made a claim and the teacher would write on my essay, Why? It also became an issue during high school geometry while trying to write proofs. I knew the answer; I just couldn’t explain why. Let’s not even mention the high school philosophy final consisting of that one question: Why?
These days I try to teach my students to give support—solid, strong supports based on facts. So why on earth can praise song writers not be expected to do the same?
If our God is so great and we want to sing so that all can see how great our God is, shouldn’t the song mention more than just a description of God as Father, Spirit, and Son? Even the Psalmists gave reasons for God being great: “It is he that made us, not we ourselves” (Ps 100); “God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps 43). Psalm 23 gives specific examples of how the Lord is our Shepherd.
Studies of self-esteem building show that children who are constantly bombarded with general praise will either have a false, inflated sense of self; or they will stop believing adults when they praise the children. Most authorities encourage specific praise. You did a great job when. . .
So why should songs explaining how great God is be exempt? No, God won’t get an inflated ego or become disillusioned with praise; it’s just that historically Lutheran singing has been used didactically (if that’s even a word).
If you want to tell someone how great God is, be specific. He created the universe by speaking. That’s great! He led the Israelites out of Egypt with signs and wonders. That’s great! He fulfilled the Law and Prophets and still died in our place for our punishment. That’s great (even if it seems weird to the uninitiated)! He gives us His Word and sacraments. That’s great!
If the point one is trying to make is completely missed, then I ask: What’s the point?