Last week we started a series called How Sweet the Sound and we are looking at the stories behind some of the most loved and powerful hymns of the church. For those who grew up going to church and hearing these hymns, just hearing a few notes or a few words from them can give us comfort, strength, or peace, and if you didn’t grow up hearing these hymns, we hope hearing their message now and the story behind them will not only encourage you but help strengthen your relationship with God.
Today’s hymn is timely because covid-19 continues to challenge us all. The daily grind of dealing with all these limitations is wearing us thin and many of us are at our wits end, but we are not without hope. When we come to the end of ourselves - that’s where faith in God really begins. When we can do no more and think we can’t stand anymore or actually stand (up) anymore, that’s when we need to remember what a friend we have in Jesus, and that’s today’s hymn.
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.
While many scriptures talk about prayer, there is one verse that truly stands behind this hymn. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6. In every situation we are to pray. When we are anxious we should pray. When we are thankful we should pray. When we are in need we should pray. When we don't even know how we feel or what to say, we should pray, and we can pray with boldness and confidence because we have a friend in Jesus who invites us to pray.
While prayer is one of the easiest and most natural things for us to do, we have many misconceptions about prayer that keep us from actually doing it. One misconception is that we think prayer is complicated. Do we have to use formal language? Is there a certain format we need to follow? Do we have to do certain things with our body? Do we have to close our eyes, fold our hands, bow our head, get on our knees, lay out flat on the floor? Are there special times we should pray? Many people pray first thing in the morning, others at night, others only at meal time, is one time better than another? Does God keep office hours so we need to catch him when he is in? I have heard so many people say, I don’t know how to pray because they think there is one certain way to do it, and they don’t want to fail. So for some, prayer is just too complicated.
Others think prayer is boring. We might not want to own up to it, but how many times have you been praying in bed at night and fallen asleep? Sometimes it just doesn't hold our attention and our mind wanders. We are in prayer and then all of sudden we think, wow, I’m hungry. What am I going to have for dinner? I should have gone to the store today. When I go to the store I need to get toilet paper - if they have any! I wonder if they have clorox wipes yet, I need to get some so I can wipe things down more often. I guess I could just get bleach and make my own spray, but I don’t have a spray bottle. I wonder where you can buy empty spray bottles, or maybe have one under the sink that’s almost empty. When I get the watering can out tomorrow I’ll have to check. I wonder if I’ll have to water tomorrow? What was the weather forecast? We need the rain, but then I have to mow the yard, which means I need to get gas….
You get the idea… we might not actually say prayer is boring but our attention span is so short that it is hard to stay focused. Did you know that the average goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds. I have no idea how they figured that out - but that’s not very long. The average attention span for most people today is 8 seconds and in a growing digital world, it is getting shorter. That study was done 5 years ago so I have to wonder if our attention span now might be 7 seconds. Which isn’t very long. And let’s face it, right now you aren’t thinking about prayer or hymns but about goldfish and maybe the goldfish crackers because you’re hungry and you are wondering what you have in the house to eat and what you need to put on the list for when you go to the store and you need to remember to check for toilet paper….
Sometimes we don’t pray because we think prayer is complicated, or we find it boring, but sometimes we don’t pray because we think prayer doesn’t work. I prayed for healing but it didn’t happen. I prayed for a better job and it hasn’t come. Or I am praying for a job and I am still unemployed. Did I do something wrong or does prayer just not work? Does God even listen? If God does listen does He act on anything that I say?
These are all misconceptions about prayer we will look at because prayer is not sending our thoughts and words out into a vast void or to a God who is distant, unconnected, and uncaring. We pray to one who has called us a friend. Jesus said, I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15. Jesus calls us friends, and in Jesus, God has come to be with us and share everything with us, which means we can say with confidence, What a friend we have in Jesus and what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
This hymn was written by Joseph Scriven who lived in Ireland in the mid 1800’s. Joseph was set to marry his childhood sweetheart and the day before the wedding they had planned to meet. On the way to the meeting, his fiancée’s horse got spooked and she fell off. She hit her head on the ground, blacked out, and rolled down an embankment into a creek where she landed face down. By the time Joseph found her, it was too late. She had drowned. Grief stricken, Joseph left Ireland and settled in Canada where he dug deeper into the teachings of Jesus and really focused on living out Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
Joseph lived out his faith by helping anyone who was in need and he often tried to help those who had no money and could not pay him for his services. His nickname was “the Good Samaritan.” In time Joseph fell in love and once again planned to get married. A few weeks before the wedding his fiancée got pneumonia and died. So for a second time Joseph was left alone and grieving.
Not long after that tragedy, news reached Joseph that his mother was sick and dying at home in Ireland. Joseph had no money to return to be with her, so he wrote her a poem. After his mother’s death, the poem was found among her papers and was shared with many people. Someone asked Joseph if he wrote the poem and his humble response was, God and I wrote it. That poem, written from a heart, a life that had lost so much said this:
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 every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
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 a shield thee, thou wilt find a solace there.
The constant for Joseph through the trials, pain, grief, and heartache of his life was prayer. He prayed at all times and in all places and while in prayer he didn’t find all he wanted, he did find all he needed. Prayer is the key to overcoming all our trials and temptations so we need to overcome our misconceptions and learn to pray. So here are four things we need to remember about prayer.
Prayer is not complicated, it is simple. We TALK to God. We don’t need formal language or deep theological words. We don’t need well thought out sentences or proper grammar. We simply talk to God as a friend. What a friend we have in Jesus - so talk to God like you talk to a friend.
I grew up going to church and was active in my youth group and I always thought prayer had to be written out and organized. When I joined a bible study in college, each week we had a prayer partner and my first prayer partner was a friend named Dave. Dave came over to my dorm room and we sat and talked about what was going on in our lives and what we might want to pray about. Then Dave said, let’s pray. I looked at him and said, What? He said, lets pray. I said, Now? How? You see, I hadn’t written anything out and I thought you had to have some kind of prayer to read.
In that moment Dave taught me all I needed to know about prayer because he said, you just talk to God. You say what you want to and need to. You just talk to him like a friend. He started to pray and it was simple and conversational. I listened and then it was my turn. It was awkward and uncomfortable and yet it was probably the first time I had ever just talked to God. That is what prayer is. It is just talking to God.
Prayer is also being AWARE of God, moment by moment and day by day. There is no special time to pray, we can pray at all times by just being aware of God’s presence and reaching out to God with short thoughts, words, and feelings. It’s getting up in the morning and being grateful for a day so we say thank you. It’s driving to work or turning on the computer to work from home and saying, God help me do what you want me to do this day. It’s seeing a person in need and saying, God help them. It’s asking God to open our eyes so we can see how to be God’s hands and feet to serve others. It’s asking God to forgive us and helping us forgive others. When the Bible tells us to pray continuously it doesn’t mean we spend our lives in formal conversation with God it means we live our lives with the awareness of God’s presence.
Prayer can also be when we VENT to God. 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. As a fisherman, Peter knew what it was like to cast a line or cast a net and often you had to really toss it out far. You had to use some force and there are times we need to truly cast our anxiety, our fear, our frustration onto God and He will take it up because He cares for us. We heard this in our study from Habakkuk this summer, God would rather us yell at Him in frustration then walk away from Him in silence. All those questions we have, disappointment we experience, and pain we share can be taken to the Lord in prayer.
And then the fourth thing we need to do in prayer is LISTEN to God. Prayer is a two way conversation. It is never just our talking to God it is also our being quiet so we can hear God speak. Jesus said, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. Jesus is known as the good shepherd and sheep will listen to and follow the voice of their shepherd, but it takes time for the sheep to learn and trust that voice. God wants us to hear His voice, He wants us to know and trust His message, but it takes time for us to silence all the other noise so we can learn to hear His voice.
In the Old Testament, the prophet Samuel was just a child when he heard a voice calling out to him at night, but he didn’t know who it was. In time his mentor, Eli, told him to pray this prayer, Speak Lord for your servant is listening. And slowly Samuel began to hear and trust the voice of God. Prayer always needs to include taking some time to listen. Maybe to help us focus in on that time we need to pray that same prayer, Speak Lord for we are listening.
We can talk to God, we can be aware of God, we can vent to God and we need to listen to God and then one final thing we need to do at all times is to THANK God. Thanksgiving needs to be a constant part of our prayers. When things are going well and when they aren’t going well we need to give thanks. This is what the Apostle Paul tells us. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
If we can train our hearts and minds to flow in an attitude of thanksgiving, something wonderful will begin to happen. We aren’t going to find all our prayers answered the way we want them, and we aren’t going to find that all our problems will disappear, but we will find peace. We will find strength and courage and comfort when we need it. Prayer brings us God’s peace, which means that prayer always does something, it is always at work. It is always effective. Pray doesn’t always solve our problems but it is always the source of peace.
We all go through trials and temptations and right now there seems to be trouble everywhere but we should never be discouraged, and we should never feel defeated because we can take everything, everything, to God in prayer. What a friend we have in Jesus.
Next Steps
How Sweet The Sound - What a friend we have in Jesus
How often do you pray? (Be honest.)
Why don’t you pray more often? Do you find prayer too complicated? Too boring? Not effective?
In what ways do you consider Jesus a friend? (John 15:5) How do you treat Jesus as a friend?
What do we learn from prayer from these scriptures:
● James 5:16
● 1 Peter 5:7
● Philippians 4:6-7
How has prayer strengthened your relationship with God?
Which of these do you want to do more of with God:
● Talking to God
● Venting to God
● Listening to God
● Thanking God
What is one step you can take this week to grow in this area?
Consider taking 5 minutes of silence to listen to God and begin this prayer time by saying, Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.
Pray!
