Does Jesus Care?
Frank Graeff - the "sunshine minister" was known for his cheery disposition, and yet wrote one of the deepest hymns during a time of struggle and hardship. His beautiful song was put to music and had brough comfort to many, as they remember that yes, Jesus does care!
Welcome to another Friday Classic Hymn. We are going to explore a beautiful hymn today, and I only knew this hymn from a Gaither Homecoming or two that I've heard it sung. I think I've heard George Beverly Shea sing this with his great deep voice. I think that's the memory that I have, but I don't really know the song. So I learned it and I'm going to play it for you, and as usual, will tell you the history and walk through the lyrics of the song.
If you enjoy this type of content, please subscribe to the channel. That would really help me and maybe share this with some people who enjoy the old hymns. I've been seeing this picture going around Facebook that says something like, “the church is wasting precious opportunities by not playing the old hymns." Now I love hymns. I also love a lot of modern music. I think it's got to be both, but a song like this is so precious.
So share your memories of Does Jesus Care and share, if you would in the comments as well, what the song means to you. Maybe God speaks to you in one of the words today, or maybe this is a special song for you. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Let me tell you where this song comes from.
The Story Behind "Does Jesus Care?"
It was a man named Frank E. Graeff who wrote this one. He was born in 1860, in Pennsylvania, in a very Dutch area, the Pennsylvania Dutch territory, and he was known in that part of the world as the “Sunshine Minister”. Mr Graeff had such a way about him, such a joy about him, that everybody just knew him as the Sunshine Minister.
He also was very good at telling stories to children, and so people would love to just see the joy in his face and the great loving countenance that came across him when he did this type of ministry. He actually entered the ministry at a young age and served various churches in the Pennsylvania area over his lifetime. This was in the 1890s, around about then.
Now C. Austin Miles, who wrote In the Garden - one of my most popular videos is the Friday Classic on In the Garden - they were friends, and he described Graeff like this: “A spiritual optimist, a great friend of children, his bright, sun-shining disposition attracts him not only to children but to all with whom he comes in contact. He has a holy magnetism and a childlike faith.”
Well, isn't that a wonderful way to be described? I'd love for people to describe me in that way, but I guess he just had a naturally cheerful personality and it just shone out into the way he did his work. Which is interesting because this particular hymn, which he's probably most well known for, is quite a sad hymn, isn't it?
It's about life's difficulties. Maybe that's a lesson for us that even the most cheerful and upbeat sunshine type of person also goes through hardships in life. He was going through a season in the early 1900s of great doubts and struggle. He was very despondent about his faith and wondering if it was all even real, and he started to ask a question that so many of us do. Does God even care? Does Jesus even care about me in my grief and in my struggle?
Searching for comfort, he opened his Bible and came across 1 Peter 5:7, which says this: Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. That really spoke deeply to him, and it became the foundation of this hymn, this great assurance that Christ genuinely cares, and that you can cast your cares on Him.
Later he would say this: “the hymn seems to carry comfort and hope to troubled hearts, and I'm glad I had the inspiration to write it.”
Well, he wrote it in 1901, but it was only published a few years later when a man named Joseph Lincoln Hall set it to music. Hall was a very talented musician - at a young age, was already choirmaster in certain places, and ended up co-founding a publishing company that did a lot of good work in the church community.
A few years after Graeff wrote the words to this hymn, Mr Hall decided to put some music to it, and he always felt, apparently, that this was his most inspired composition. He used to write a lot. He wrote all sorts of beautiful pieces of music. He wrote many hymns himself, but he felt that this was kind of one of the pinnacles of his career - writing this beautiful tune.
So the hymn was finally published in its full form in 1905, in one of Hall's publications, in a hymnal that his publishing company put out. It quickly became popular and was published in many hymnals time and time again throughout the years. I think maybe the Gaithers have really kept it alive, because a lot of people listened to Gaither music, and I've seen multiple versions on their platforms.
Graeff died at the age of 68, and Hall died a few years later himself. But the song is just such a beautiful testament to how God can help us through our difficulties, and these two men - I suppose we should honour them today for this beautiful song that they wrote.
What Do the Lyrics of "Does Jesus Care?" Mean?
Come and take a look at the four verses and the chorus that make up this song.
Verse 1
Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth or song?
You've been there, I'm sure, in such a deep state of pain that you can't laugh, you can't smile, you can't sing. You just are robbed of your opportunity to enjoy anything because of the pain in your life. You know, the Psalmist often felt this way. If you read the Psalms, you will see that David and others often felt deeply depressed and in a dark place. So perhaps we're not alone when we go through such things. Everybody, I believe, goes through this at some point.
As the burdens press, and the cares distress, and the way grows weary and long.
Yes, so often we have burdens pressing on our hearts, we have cares that distress us. The road that we're on grows weary, grows long. It feels that we're getting nowhere and we're just pressing on. Have you been there? I'm sure you have.
In the state of difficulty and struggle, he asks this question: Does Jesus care?
Chorus
And he replies in the chorus, O yes, He cares; I know He cares.
This is a confident answer that comes from that verse in 1 Peter: Casting your care upon Him, for He cares. Do you know today that He cares, and that His heart is touched with my grief? He feels the pain that you feel and walks with you along the difficult road. Isn't it comforting to know that our God doesn't just leave us alone, but He goes through what we go through with us.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Saviour cares.
Well, isn't that our hope - that through the long nights, through the difficult days, we do have a Saviour. I love my Saviour. He's my Saviour. This doesn't really happen for you unless He is your Saviour. That personal relationship with Him is what gives you strength to go on. Beautiful stuff.
Verse 2
Does Jesus care when my way is dark with a nameless dread and fear?
A nameless dread - well, sometimes we struggle with depression and anxiety that can just sweep over us and we don't even know what it is, why it came. Sometimes the spirit just seems to dip and you don't know what it is or why it happened. You can't trace a reason, but it's true that it's there and you just struggle. Does Jesus care when that's happening? He asks:
As the daylight fades into deep night shades, does He care enough to be near?
You know, many great people of God struggle with a kind of darkness, a depression, a dark night of the soul, you might call it.
I know famously Charles Spurgeon was quite a depressive type. He would go through these deep periods of melancholy or depression. Maybe this man was the same. I mean, think about this - oftentimes people who are very outgoing and positive and sort of expressive in their joy retreat into a very dark place. Often there's this almost bipolar, not maybe not the actual bipolar disorder, although that's a very real thing too. But for many people who are actually very upbeat, they do retreat into a very dark place when they're not putting on that thing.
Maybe that's you. Maybe you're very outgoing and joyful even in the presence of people. But when the daylight fades, a deep night takes over your heart. But He cares enough to be near. He does. Maybe that's why you're watching this video - to be reminded today that when you do go into a dark place, Jesus is with you. Maybe it's no mistake that this song has come up at this point to remind you that even in that dark place, even as the Scripture says, in the valley of the shadow of death, He is with you. He's with you.
Verse 3
Does Jesus care when I've tried and failed to resist some temptation strong?
We've all been there as well, haven't we? Trying to honour God and then getting it wrong. You think, oh no, I've failed Him. I should have resisted the temptation, but I didn't. You realise that you've dishonoured Him. That can also plunge you into a dark place if you are, at least if you are a true Christian, I believe you will feel a grief when you realise that you've sinned.
When for my deep grief there is no relief, though my tears flow all the night long.
When you have messed up and dishonoured God, there is a sense of grief, isn't there? Of course, there are many things that cause us grief that has no relief. There's maybe the difference - when you do sin, there is relief when you confess and accept the forgiveness and mercy that Jesus offers. But of course, grief in other contexts doesn't let go. If you've lost someone you love, often that grief never leaves you. Rarely, if somebody you love has rejected Jesus and you've cared and prayed so deeply for them to return and it's not happening, you can have this overwhelming grief over your spirit.
Sometimes you have health problems that just don't go away, so you live with constant pain or constant difficulty. Does Jesus care when you have no relief for your grief or pain and your tears are flowing all night long?
Yes, He cares. Yes, He cares. Remember that chorus? O yes, He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. He walks alongside you in your grief and cries tears alongside you, I believe.
Verse 4
Does Jesus care when I've said goodbye to the dearest on earth to me?
There it is. When you've had to say goodbye to a loved one.
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks - is it aught to Him? Does He see?
In other words, is it - does it mean anything to Him? Does He see?
Well, remember how Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb? Grief is a Christian value. Weeping at the loss of a loved one is a Christlike value. So I believe He does. I believe He weeps too, when He sees grieving people. I believe He's with you in your loss and that He's not indifferent. He's not the uncaring creator. He's not the one who laughs while humanity weeps. No, I believe that He hears our cry. How often do the Psalms say, He heard your cry and I know your afflictions. So He sees these things.
But please notice, He doesn't protect us from them all, because being human means grieving and going through difficulties. God didn't protect Jesus on earth from pain and difficulty and suffering and grief. We too go through pain and difficulty and suffering and grief. But the good news is that He cares and that He will help you. His heart is touched, and through the difficulties of life, whether it's just general sadness, whether it's grief at sin, whether it's grief at the death of somebody who you love, you can know that He cares.
You can sing, O yes, He cares. His heart is touched by my grief, and through the difficulties you can hang on to Him. That's what the song does for me when I hear that chorus - O yes, He cares. I can grab a hold of Him and say, I believe this, Lord, and it helps me. Maybe it'll help you too.
Conclusion
What do you think of the song? Did it touch your heart today? Is there something that really spoke to you in the story or in the words? I'd love to hear that in the comments below.
As always, I want to thank you for contributing to this ministry. Your donations that come in on PayPal or on Patreon are precious to me at a time in my life when I need the help. You've been so faithful and kind, so thank you. Head over to Patreon - you get a download of the performance and of the piano part that I'm playing in the background of all of these hymns, as well as extra daily devotions. I always do five devotions, Monday to Friday, but on Saturday my Patreon supporters get an extra one.
Thank you for caring and for helping. As we sing the song now, I pray that the grace of Jesus just sweeps over your soul and encourages you.
