In 1855 Irishman Joseph M. Scriven penned the words to his most famous hymn. A hymn that makes one think about our friendship and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be very grateful we have a friend such as Christ. Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Scriven wrote this hymn with great personal pain. Rather than focusing on his personal sorrows, he decided to give it to the Lord in prayer. One can only imagine how Scriven’s burden was lifted by his Lord during prayer.

We often do not realise what a true friend we have in the Lord. A friend who said, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Jesus also said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The Lord calls those who believe in Him friends in verse 15 of John chapter 15, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

The future was full of hope for the young Joseph Scriven. He was engaged to his fiancé and soon to take her hand in marriage. On the night before the marriage Scriven’s soon-to-be wife travelled along the river to meet him. In a moment of madness, her horse was startled and threw her headfirst into the rushing waters beneath. Knocked unconscious and unresponsive she drowned just a few minutes before Scriven arrived. Scriven described his sorrow, “as the bottom of my world seemed to disappear.”

An emotionally shattered Scriven turned to God for comfort and guidance from that day forward. In 1845 Scriven arrived in Canada. One can only imagine he left Ireland as the pain of that day was too much for him. Scriven never stopped thinking about the day that never happened.

Scriven settled in Port Hope, Ontario. In Canada Scriven devoted most of his time in helping people in need following Christ’s example in the Sermon on the Mount. Each day he walked the streets helping anyone he could see in need of help. It is reported that he never once turned down a request for help. For nearly 40 years Scriven reflected the love and light of Christ in his daily life.

In the spring of 1854, Scriven was to marry. He met his bride-to-be when teaching the children of a British sea captain, she was his niece. Only weeks before the wedding despair struck Scriven again. His fiancé suddenly fell ill with pneumonia and died at the age of just 23 years.

Once again Scriven was heartbroken by losing a woman he loved dearly. Scriven turn to God once again. God was his only true friend, the only one who could now strengthen him. The following year he wrote a poem to his mother back home in Ireland. The poem highlighted his extraordinary friendship with Jesus. He wrote about how he had hope and purpose for the future in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. The words of this poem we now know as the timeless classical hymn, What a friend we have in Jesus.

In simple but beautiful language Scriven wrote the very core meaning of a true friend. A friend that we can all have if we trust in Christ alone. A friend that you have never had before. A friend like the Lord Jesus Christ is one worth having. What a great sense of peace and joy Scriven must have felt when he wrote this poem. He must have known that no matter what pain we have, Jesus will make our burdens lighter. No matter our sorrow, God is in control. Yes, even in the midst of chaos and panic God is in control.

For the rest of his life Scriven demonstrated the love of God in Canada. Even today more than 100 years after his death his example of faith impacts us in this timeless hymn. Scriven said that he and the Lord had written the hymn together. Do you have a friend like Jesus? One who will never leave you nor forsake you? One who will die for you? One who will take away all your burdens? There is no other friend like Jesus. What a friend we have in Him.