Oba Namadinnata Lyrics by Shehan Fernando

I have come to worship you, my Lord,
because of the love I hold for you
I offer up songs of praise to you,
because you are my God
with a heart full of joy I praise you,
because you yourself are my Saviour
with my whole soul, my strength, my mind,
I worship you, my Lord God

O Creator of the universe,
to you belong these songs of thanks
I praise and sing your name,
I bow before you in devotion

I looked at the stars in the sky,
how full of wonder they are
the mountain peaks met my eyes,
and I saw your power and your glory
the singing birds, the fragrant little flowers,
displayed the marvel of creation
yet more wondrous than all of these,
O God, you made me

O Creator of the universe

This is a hymn of joyful praise, and it moves outward from the singer’s love to the vast wonder of creation and then, surprisingly, back to the wonder of being made himself. It begins by naming its own motive, which is the purest reason to worship: “I have come to worship you, my Lord, because of the love I hold for you.” Everything that follows flows from love and gratitude rather than duty.

The worship it offers is deliberately whole-hearted, echoing Jesus’ summary of the greatest commandment, “with my whole soul, my strength, my mind, I worship you.” Nothing is held back. And it lifts its praise to God under his grandest title, “Creator of the universe,” offering him “these songs of thanks.”

The final verse is a small hymn of natural wonder, in the spirit of the Psalms that call all creation to praise God. The singer looks up at “the stars in the sky,” gazes at “the mountain peaks,” listens to “the singing birds” and notices “the fragrant little flowers,” and in each he sees “the marvel of creation” and God’s “power and glory.” Then comes the turn that gives the song its heart: “yet more wondrous than all of these, O God, you made me.” Amid all the grandeur of the cosmos, the believer is amazed that the same Creator lovingly made him. What the listener is left with is worship that is both cosmic and personal, a heart praising the Maker of the stars and mountains, and marveling that such a God troubled to make, and love, one ordinary human being.