约瑟·斯克莱文（Joseph M. Scriven）. Explore “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”: song information and official sources.
The pilgrim journey · Prayer and drawing near
When Scriven wrote these lines, he did not intend them for singing. Originally from Ireland, he lost his fiancée to drowning on the eve of their wedding. He later moved to Canada and supported himself by working for poor people. The poem was a letter of comfort to his sick mother far away at home. Only years later was it discovered, set to music and widely shared. Knowing this background, you hear how homely its voice is: someone who has suffered is telling another sufferer what he has personally found helpful, rather than urging people to pray from a pulpit. All three stanzas return to one thing: everything can be told to God. The repetition almost sounds like someone going on and on, exactly as people do when offering comfort. Notice too the thought in the first stanza that singers often pass over: the peace we lose and the needless pain we bear come from failing to bring things into prayer. There is a rebuke here, but a gentle one.
Prayer meetings, visits and comfort; teaching on prayer or anxiety; funerals and accompanying people through illness.