The Hymn That Was Never Meant to Be Sung

In 1857, Joseph Scriven wrote a poem for his mother back in Ireland. She was going through a difficult season, and he was thousands of miles away in Canada, unable to comfort her in person. So he did the only thing he could — he put his heart on paper. The poem was never intended for publication. It was a private letter from a son to his grieving mother.

Years later, a friend visiting Scriven during an illness discovered the poem near his bed. When asked about it, Scriven said simply, "The Lord and I wrote it together." That poem became the hymn the world now knows as What a Friend We Have in Jesus — sung in churches across every continent, in hundreds of languages, for over 160 years.

Scriven never set out to write a hymn. He was just trying to love his mother well. He had no idea that his small, faithful act — one letter, one moment of obedience to compassion — would become a lifeline for millions of believers in their darkest hours.

This is how the Almighty so often works. He does not always reveal the full blueprint. He asks us to be faithful in the moment we are in — to write the letter, to speak the kind word, to show up where we are planted. And He takes that faithfulness and multiplies it beyond anything we could imagine.

Your purpose may not look grand today. But in the hands of El Shaddai, no faithful act is ever wasted.