What a Friend we have in Jesus

Joseph M. Scriven's “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is a hymn built on one idea, that prayer is the right place for every trouble. The opening line calls Jesus a friend who will bear “all our sins and griefs,” and the second calls it “a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.” The next verse says what is lost when people forget, “Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear.”

The middle verses are a list of reasons to come. “Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?” is answered with the refrain-like line “Take it to the Lord in prayer.” Jesus is described as faithful, one who “knows our every weakness,” and a refuge when “thy friends despise, forsake thee.” The last verse looks ahead to a time when “there will be no need for prayer,” replaced by “rapture, praise, and endless worship.”

The advice to bring everything to God is Philippians 4:6, and “who will all our sorrows share” fits 1 Peter 5:7, casting every anxiety on him. The claim that Jesus knows our weakness is Hebrews 4:15, where he sympathizes with human weakness.