I Stand Amazed – Charles Gabriel

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

An amazing person, who wrote that he was in fact a quite ordinary, feeble being compared to the incomparable God. That’s how one could describe Charles Gabriel in the early 1900s when he composed “I Stand Amazed”. But, like the apostles who had been with the Christ, Gabriel must have encountered Jesus (in a figurative sense), motivating his prolific life and this spellbound reflection that he put to words. Examine Gabriel’s life, and see if his prodigious nature was superhuman.

Charles Hutchinson Gabriel was an Iowa farm boy, who had little formal educational background that hinted he would become a musical master. Like others in mid-19th Century rural America, one can imagine that Gabriel may have attended one-room schools for his general education. His musical upbringing in the family home, where his father guided singing schools, undoubtedly gave the young Charles an advantage that his formal education had left vacant. With the family’s reed organ, Gabriel taught himself the basics, and by his mid-teens he actually was teaching others, and reportedly composing for his local church. Through the rest of his life he may have composed between 7,000 and 8,000 songs, becoming known as the ‘king of gospel music’ while composing for well-known names like Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver. Was he a ‘prodigy’, a savant perhaps like Mozart? Someone who heard music in his head, and composed as easily as the rest of us breathe? Astonishing, amazing – where did it come from? Perhaps while in the womb he heard his own father singing and teaching. With this ability, maybe Gabriel himself wondered and marveled at this God-given talent.

The words of the gospel hymn “I Stand Amazed” were written in 1905 when Gabriel was 49 years old, after more than three decades into his life’s work in music. The hymn’s words indicate he was not self-absorbed, as some with his talent over such a long stretch of time might have been. Instead, Gabriel focused his attention on the One who had gifted him musically. Gabriel’s composition shows he saw his own faults (a sinner, condemned, unclean – verse 1), but that’s not where he dwelt. Gabriel evidently had emerged from his own struggles – including his father’s death when Charles was still a teenager, and his failed first marriage - to recognize the Lord’s work in his life. Look at Him, hold Him in awe, and open your mouth in joyous response as you look forward to a face-to-face encounter. That sums up Gabriel’s song-message. It’s not hard to find something amazing about Him – you just have to look.


Information on the song was obtained from “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006. Also, see the following websites for information:


More biographic information on composer:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/g/a/b/gabriel_ch.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_H._Gabriel

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/FAMOUSIOWANS/501300335