What a Friend

If we go to the Word of God in the Gospel of John 12:24 (NKJV), it is a scripture that is very well known by most Christians, it is also a scripture that makes one sit up and take count. Jesus said, 

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” 

What I have noticed in my life is that anything that is really precious, anything that is really costly, requires a lot of pain and suffering and even death sometimes. 

Joseph Scriven was an Irish preacher, and he wrote a poem to his mother to comfort her in 1855. She was still living in Ireland while he had gone to Canada. That poem became a hymn. It is probably one of the most loved and popular hymns in the whole world, What a friend we have in Jesus.

You see, Joseph Scriven had a very sad life. He was in Ireland as a young man standing on a riverbank, waiting for his beloved fiancée to come across the river on a horse. When she was halfway across the river, the horse bolted, she fell into the river and drowned. Needless to say, he was devastated. He then left Ireland and went to live in Canada and led a life of helping others and taking care of those in need. They tell me that he himself also drowned in an accident later on in his life.

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
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!

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge--
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield you;
you will find a solace there.

May the Lord bless you as you share your heart with the lost too.

Much love in Jesus Name

Angus and Jill Buchan