Monday Morning Devo - Song Stories: What a Friend We Have in Jesus

"What a Friend We have in Jesus" was written by Joseph M. Scriven,  in the mid-1800s.

Life hit Joseph one blow after another from the time he was twenty-five. His fiancee' died in a tragic drowning accident the day before they were to be wed. Heartbroken, he left his homeland (Ireland) and sailed to Canada, where he worked as a teacher.

A few years later, he fell in love again and became engaged to a young woman named Eliza, a relative of one of his students. That one too was not to be--Eliza became sick and passed away before they could be married.

Then shortly after Eliza died, he received word that his mother, still in Ireland, was ill. Unable to go to her, he sent her a letter of comfort and one of the poems he'd written--the one that later became this song at the hands of Charles C. Converse, a great admirer of Joseph.

You would think that all this tragedy would make him bitter, but instead he turned the more strongly to Jesus, becoming a preacher at a Baptist church and giving generously to the poor.

This is truly an old-fashioned song, with truly and old message: that any trouble or hurt we have can be told honestly and trustingly to Jesus. Click HERE to listen.

Lord, You are the inspirer of all good works. Thank You--otherwise we wouldn't have these inspiring stories and songs.