What a friend he is!   Jesus is not the backup when all else fails, he’s the first one we should go to.  The cool thing is, Jesus was our best friend when we were ten and playing kickball with the neighbor kids.  He was our best friend when we reached adulthood with new jobs, marriage and raising a family.  He’s been our best friend when we were healthy and when we were sick.  Unlike the friends we have made along the way, Jesus never moves away or gives up on us.

I wondered about who wrote this favorite hymn and what his circumstances might have been.  This beloved hymn was written by Joseph Scriven in 1855.  Joseph knew what it meant to lose the relationships he counted on .   The night before his wedding, his fiancée drowned.  Later when he had moved on, he fell in love again and got engaged.  In 1855 his new fiancée died of an illness before they ever walked down the aisle.  Such tragedy could break a man.

But that year Scriven wrote the hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”  When asked about the hymn he had written, he said he wrote not to comfort himself, but to comfort his mother.  In the midst of unimaginable anguish and loneliness, Scriven was confident that Jesus would never fail him.  Jesus would always listen.

This Jesus who will never fail us is a Jesus of unconditional love.  “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.”

Judy