Listen to this beautiful duet of the hymn ‘What a Friend We Have In Jesus.’ The singers in the video are a married couple named Chris and Stephanie, and they make music together in their duo called Out of the Dust. How wonderful it is to see them using their gifts to glorify God together!
‘What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!’
In the caption of their YouTube video, Chris and Stephanie share about the hymn ‘What a Friend We Have In Jesus’ and what a great reminder it is to place our trust in our Heavenly Father.
“Been feeling overwhelmed lately? Like the weight you’re carrying is too much to bear? We’ve been there too,” the singers write. “The old hymn ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’ is a beautiful reminder that we were never meant to carry our pain by ourselves. Surrender doesn’t take away the struggle, but it does place it into the hands of the One who loves us deeply and walks with us through it all. We pray this acoustic version will bring comfort to your soul and gently point you back to the Friend who knows your every weakness and yet will never leave you.”
What a powerful reminder. And the background of this hymn is also powerful to know.
'What A Friend We Have In Jesus' was written by Joseph Scriven, a transplanted Irishman in Canada. He was born in Ireland in 1819, and he had wealth, education, a devoted family, and a pleasant life in his native country. After college, he established himself as a teacher, fell in love, and was to be married. But his fiancée ended up drowning, and the only place that Joseph found solace was in Jesus.
Joseph then left for Canada to start a new life and fell in love with a woman named Eliza Rice in the town of Port Hope. But she became sick and also died before Joseph and she were married. Joseph’s faith was the only thing that brought him through this tragic time. After a lot of time spent in prayer, Joseph took a vow of poverty, sold all of his earthly possessions, and vowed to give his life to the physically handicapped and financially destitute. He became known as “The Good Samaritan of Port Hope.”
Later in his life when Joseph became ill, a friend was visiting him when he found a poem beside Joseph’s bed. He asked who had written it, and Joseph responded saying "The Lord and I did it between us.” And after his death, the poem was put to music by Charles Converse and is the hymn we know and love today.
We hope that you enjoyed listening to this sweet rendition of ‘What a Friend We Have In Jesus’ today!