What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Robin Sheffield

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.
--Joseph Scriven
Listen to the song

The man who wrote this famous 19th-century hymn was familiar with loneliness. He fought it all his life. It was after one bout with depression that he wrote the words to this song.

What he had discovered was the reality of friendship with Jesus Christ. He knew that because Jesus lived upon earth as a man, He understands our feelings. He knows what it is like to be lonely. He suffered the pain of rejection and cruelty, and felt hunger and thirst. The Bible describes Him as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3).

Yet Jesus did more than sympathize with our troubles. He knew that the root of our problem is sin.

The Bible says that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," and that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 3:23; 6:23). But "He (God) hath made Him (Christ), who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus Christ, God the Son, died on the cross, and rose from the dead on the third day.

God gives all those who know Jesus Christ as Savior the right to call God, Father (Romans 8:15). Christ has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

He does not promise an easy life, but He gives us the privilege of taking "everything to God in prayer" and knowing that He hears, and will answer us (1 John 5:15). Through His Spirit He offers inner peace and strength.

All that God requires is that you and I turn from our sins (repent) and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9).

To believe in Christ means you acknowledge that there is nothing you can do to be "good enough" to meet God's holy standard. Christ alone made the perfect sacrifice to put away your sin.

Have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? If not, you can right now. Tell God that you are sorry for your sins. Thank Him for sending His Son to die for you, and invite Him into your life.

© 2002 Good News Publishers. Used by permission.
Translated by permission of Good News Publishers
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