LSB #770 "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 7:7-8, Hebrews 4:15, John 15:14-16, 1 Peter 2:24

Matthew 7:7-8:  "7 'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.'"

Hebrews 4:15:  "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."

John 15:14-16:  "14 'You are my friends if you do what I command you.  15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.'"

1 Peter 2:24:  "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By his wounds you have been healed."

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The text is public domain:

1 What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Ev'rything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit;

Oh, what needless pain we bear -

All because we do not carry

Ev'rything to God in prayer!

2 Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged -

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our ev'ry weakness -

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

3 Are we weak and heavy laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge -

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

In His arms He'll take and shield thee;

Thou wilt find a solace there.

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The passage from Matthew 7 and the end of John 15:16 seem to appear in the recurring references to prayer ("What a privilege to carry / Ev'rything to God in prayer" in the first verse and "Take it to the Lord in prayer" in the second and third).

Hebrews 4:15 appears in the lines "Can we find a friend so faithful / Who will all our sorrows share? / Jesus knows our ev'ry weakness" in the second verse.

The passage from John 15 is the basis for the line "What a friend we have in Jesus," although there's a bit of overlap with Hebrews 4:15, and 1 Peter 2:24 appears in the following line:  "All our sins and griefs to bear!"

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The repeated reference to prayer may allude to "Be constant in prayer" from Romans 12:12.  The first half of the second verse also bears some similarity to Philippians 4:6:  "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

Recently, I was thinking about "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" and discovered a musical feature in one of the lines, but then I found that I'd already noticed this and added it to my list of things to write about.  Lest I rediscover this a third time, I'm writing about it now.

In the first verse, there are the lines "What a privilege to carry / Ev'rything to God in prayer!"  At the end of the verse there are similar lines (sung to the same musical phrase) reflecting on the "needless pain we bear - / All because we do not carry / Ev'rything to God in prayer!"  Here's the notation for those two lines, from the tune "Converse":

The syllables of those two "ev'rything"s are all sung to different pitches (C F A) and - altogether - span a sixth, and these two musical features highlight the variety and breadth of "ev'rything."

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For what it's worth, here's a post from last June about some more musical features in "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

I sang "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" in church back in August and noticed a couple things about it, but I didn't have an opportunity to write about it until now.  In the meantime, however, I sang it in church again and noticed a few more things, so at least I can put them all in the same post now.

The hymn is sung to the tune "Converse."  Here are the first two phrases:

There's a cross inscription in the second phrase, but I think the only connection this has with the text is in the first verse, where the accompanying text (for both of these phrases) is "What a friend we have in Jesus, / All our sins and griefs to bear."  The cross inscription corresponds to "sins and griefs to," and Jesus bore our sins and griefs on the cross.

In the third verse, the text here is "Are we weak and heavy laden, / Cumbered with a load of care?"  For both of these phrases, the melody descends at the end, giving a sense of sinking under the "load of care" with which we are "heavy laden."

The sixth musical phrase has a similar feature:

In the first verse, the text here is "Oh, what needless pain we bear," and again the melody descends as if to represent sinking under the weight of the "pain we bear."  There's also an-other cross inscription here, but I don't think there are any connections between it and the hymn text.