Does Jesus Care?

Last month I finished writing a song and introduced it to our church. It was a new version of the old hymn Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart, with a new tune and an added chorus. A week ago, after church on May 11th, my friend Ken Ober came up to me and said he appreciated the new song and had a suggestion for another hymn to be revisited. The hymn was Does Jesus Care?, and I told him I was familiar with it, but hadn't sung it in a long time! I thanked him for the suggestion and told him I'd look into it.

The next day I looked it up. I was surprised that it was in only one of the three hymnals I reference most often, but I enjoyed getting reacquainted with the hymn. I grabbed my guitar to start playing around with melodies, and a new tune quickly came! It's probably not the most original melody, but on Sunday I sang it as a part of our worship. I hope it was an encouragement to everyone who was worshiping with us.

I looked up Does Jesus Care on my favorite hymn website, http://www.cyberhymnal.org/. There I learned that the lyrics were written in 1901 by a Methodist pastor from Pennsylvania named Frank E. Graeff. It turns out that Graeff was a winsome, optimistic pastor, particularly gifted in working with children. In fact, his disposition earned him the nickname, "the Sunshine Pastor," and I imagine that those who met him assumed his life was full of nothing but joy and peace. But we all know that life here is not easy, and Frank Graeff was not immune to the pains and struggles we all face. I couldn't find any details about his challenges, but here is how the cyberhymnal site summarizes Graeff's writing of his most well-known hymn:

Frank Graeff went through some ve­ry dif­fi­cult tri­als. The per­i­od be­fore writ­ing this song was one of great de­spond­en­cy, doubt and phys­ic­al pain. When he turned to God’s Word, 1 Peter 5:7 gave won­der­ful com­fort: “He cares for you.” Af­ter med­i­ta­ting on that truth, Graeff wrote these lyri­cs, with the re­sound­ing af­firm­a­tion in the cho­rus, “O yes, He cares…”

What a wonderful scripture. God invites us to "cast all our anxiety on Him"...and why? Because He is smart? strong? wise? organized? The Bible tells us to "cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." How amazing is it that God loves and cares for each individual!

One hundred and seven years ago, a beleaguered pastor was amazed by this very truth. And we still have his poetic reminder to help us focus on our kind and loving Father.

I encourage you to read the hymn below, and if you want to hear our version of it, you can click here.

Be encouraged...He cares for you!

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained

Too deeply for mirth or song,

As the burdens press, and the cares distress

And the way grows weary and long?

Does Jesus care when my way is dark

With a nameless dread and fear?

As the daylight fades into deep night shades,

Does He care enough to be near?

Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed

To resist some temptation strong;

When for my deep grief there is no relief,

Though my tears flow all the night long?

Does Jesus care when I’ve said “goodbye”

To the dearest on earth to me,

And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks,

Is it aught to Him? Does He see?

Oh yes, He cares, I know He cares,

His heart is touched with my grief;

When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,

I know my Savior cares.