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One of the greatest teachings we have on this is the hymn we all have sung for many years – ‘what a friend we have in Jesus’. When we read the background of its composition, it takes on new meaning.

It was written by a man named Joseph Scriven who lived in the 1800’s in Ireland and he fell in love with his childhood sweetheart. On the day before they were to be married, they rode on horseback to meet one another and tragically her horse bucked and threw her off, she hit her head on a rock beside a riverbed, rolled unconscious into the water moments before Joseph arrived. She died and he found his fiancé dead in the middle of the river, we can only imagine, life falls apart for him.  He now leaves Ireland as he doesn’t want to face everything he knew there.

He moves to Canada and encounters the powerful Grace of Jesus. He falls in love with Christ’s word and he decides to devote his life to living out the teaching of Jesus known as the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew Chapter 5, 6 & 7.  He takes a vow of poverty, he’s very handy and he works for people. But the story goes, he actually wouldn’t work for anyone that could afford him. If they could afford to pay him, he wouldn’t do the work, it was only for people that didn’t have the means that he would do the work. Joseph Scriven’s nickname was the Good Samaritan, always helping people who were in need. A young lady saw this very Godly man and took interest in him, he took interest in her and he fell in love again with a woman named Eliza Roche. They were engaged to be married and weeks before they were to be married, at the age of 23, Eliza came down with pneumonia and died. Two times, not once, but two times the love of his life is taken from him. He never fell in love again.

Years went by and when his mother was dying back in Ireland, he obviously didn’t have the money to go and see her because he had taken a vow of poverty. So, he wrote a poem to her and he sent the poem to her. The poem actually started to become very well known, although he never took credit for it. Years later, by accident, a friend was in his house and saw the original notes of this, now a hymn, and found the words to it. And he said to Joseph, “Did you write the words to this?” And Joseph said, “Well, to be honest, “the Lord and I wrote it together.”  The poem that he wrote to his dying mom is now the hymn that has been for a couple hundred years, ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus.’ Feel the power of the lyrics that this man wrote, knowing the story behind what he endured in life. He asked the question, “Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged, take it to the Lord in prayer.”

Psalm 34 -15 “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And his ears are open unto their cry.”