‘What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.’ Joseph Scriven. We are told that to have a friend we need to be a friend. With our earthly friends, the friendship must not be one-sided. We need to open our hearts to share our problems with those we love as well as remembering they too have problems. With God we can lay all our problems on Him. Our God is big enough to take it all and guide and lead us as well.
‘Do your friends despise, forsake you?’ There are times when our friends can be the problem. Even the best can let us down. They can neglect us, fail to keep a promise or just not understand what we are trying to convey to them. We very much need our friends, but they are only human. As we have proved time and time again, God will never let us down.
‘Can we find a friend so faithful?’ This hymn tells us repeatedly ‘Take it to the Lord in prayer.’ Why, oh why, do we sometimes use prayer as the last resort instead of the first? God is only a breath away. He wants to hear from us, to communicate with us. We can trust Him to be our most important friend. ‘Take it to the Lord in prayer.’