A big man with white hair and a bushy beard was carrying a saw and sawhorse down the street. A wealthy citizen of the town spotted the man and said to his friend, “He looks like a sober man. I think I’ll hire him to cut wood for me.” “That’s Joseph Scriven,” his friend replied, “He wouldn’t cut wood for you. He only cuts wood for those who don’t have enough to pay.”
We would have never heard about Joseph Scriven (1819-1886) had it not been for a neighbor who stopped by to see him one day when Joseph was ill. The neighbor happened to notice a poem by Joseph’s bedside and asked who composed it. Joseph admitted that he had written it to comfort his ailing mother who was home in Ireland but never intended anyone else to read it. His neighbor encouraged Joseph to find someone to connect the poem with a tune. The result is the well-known gospel hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”
When Joseph was 25, on the eve before his marriage, his fiancé fell off her horse as she was crossing a bridge and accidentally drowned. Joseph witnessed the horrendous scene on the other side of the bridge. When he wrote about bringing our trials to Jesus in his “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” hymn, he knew firsthand the truth of his own words. The hymn invites us in prayer to bring everything to Jesus: our sins (verse 1), our griefs (verse 1), our trials and temptations (verse 2), our troubles (verse 2), our weaknesses (verse 3), our heavy burdens and load of care (verse 3).
Here’s a suggestion: take four minutes, access your favorite vocalist (virtually everyone has sung this hymn) and let the song lead you into prayer. Then, do as the song directs and bring everything on your mind and heart to God in prayer: