2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I am directed to continue discussing the issue of friendship with God and each other. In many places in the Scripture, God not only expresses His desire that we should be His friends, but He also gives us examples of people to emulate who were His friends. This friendship is very much a part of the oneness of our covenant relationship with Him and our koininea relationship with Him and each other.
Yesterday, I was prompted to cite 2 CH 20: 7, which I would like to repeat here for the sake of this message. “You are our God. When your people Israel moved into this land, You drove out the people who were living here and gave the land to the descendants of Abraham, Your friend, to be theirs forever.” We can have faith that the author of 2 Chronicles, Ezra the priest, had knowledge of what friendship with God meant. This is the same Ezra, who the Lord trusted to take a wave of Jewish exiles back to Israel in 458 BC from Medo-Persia. This trust was because knew that Ezra remembered the principles of the Torah and had the courage to help the spiritually “helpless and subdued” people [ZECH 1: 11] reassert their covenant relationship with God. This same friendship with God is mentioned in IS 41:8, “But you, Israel, My servant, you are the people that I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, My friend.” In the original Hebrew text for both of these citations, the word, “ahab” [pronounced “aw-hab”] is used, which means “to have affection for, love like a friend.”
Another word for friend is used in EX 33: 11, which reads, “The Lord would speak with Moses face-to-face, just as a man speaks with a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp. But the young man who was his helper, Joshua son of Nun, stayed in the Tent.” The Hebrew word used for “friend” here is “rea” or “reya,” which means “an associate, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, or neighbor.”
God’s love for us is so great that He wants us to understand more than is on the surface about the nature of His kind of friendship. That’s why He gives us all these wonderful Scriptures from which to learn. His wisdom on friendship is found in PR 27: 6, “A friend means well, even when he hurts you. But when an enemy puts his arm around your shoulder-watch out!” If we think about the kind of Friend that God was to both Moses and Abraham, we can see the wisdom here. While Abraham’s father, Terah, was still alive, God held back on giving Abraham further direction from Haran (north of modern day Israel in Syria). That was because God knew that Terah practiced idolatry and wouldn’t change. Once Terah, passed away, then God kept on directing Abraham and being the to guide his path for the rest of Abraham’s life [GN 11: 31-32]. In Moses’s case, God knew that Moses had a difficult task and didn’t feel up to it. It was God Whose presence and help convinced Moses he could carry out what had to be done. God placed enough trust in Moses to speak with him face-to-face. We have evidence of that in the glow that appeared on Moses’ face when he came down from Mt. Sinai with the ten commandments [EX 34: 29]. The relationship that he had with God was unmistakable.
We get another picture of God’s ideals for friendship through the Son’s words in JN 15: 13-15, “My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to save his life for them. And you are My friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from My Father.” Isn’t confiding the truth exactly what dear friends do with each other? Going back to PR 27: 6 above, that truth is confided even it is painful. Combined with what we learn in other parts of the Scriptures, a painful truth is to be confided with gentleness and sensitivity for the friend’s feelings, i.e. with the love Christ models for us. Friends trust each other. Hopefully, our friendships won’t be tested this way, but a real friendship even goes to the point of willingness to give one’s life for a friend. I believe that was certainly true of the friendship between David and Jonathan, for example. Christ did give His life for us on the cross, even when we were His enemies. What does that say about God’s desire to be our Friend, not to mention the Son’s?
There are a number of issues upon which we should meditate. What kind of friend are we personally? Do we really understand the great sacrifice that our Lord made for us on the cross as it impacts our personal lives? What do we look for in a true friend? Do we know how to be a good friend to others around us? How willing are we to confide in a real friend? Do we care enough to listen well and use wisdom when a friend confides in us? Do we respect confidences placed in us? How loyal are we to a friend? How consistent are we in our friendships? How much is God a part of the friend we are? I don’t ask these questions to judge or encourage the judging of others. Instead, I ask them so that we will all take time to think about these issues in our lives. That is what I believe God would want us to do. He wants us to remember that this is an integral part of the oneness of our covenant relationship with Him and our “koininea” relationship with Him and each other.
PRAYER: O Lord, how blessed we are that You love us enough not only to be our Friend, but to show us Your will for friendships! In Your interaction with Your friends like Abraham and Moses, You allow us to know Your desire that we should be Your friends too. Both of these men were ordinary humans who You trusted and blessed abundantly. With these stories in the Scriptures You gave us, You let us know that we can be Your friends too, if we will be faithful to You and obey Your commandments as they did. The greatest act of friendship as defined in JN 15: 13-15 was carried out by You when You offered Your only Son on the cross so we could be saved. What You gave for us was the most precious thing You had. Out of Your love for us, You call us to be not only Your friends, but to be friends to each other as Christ showed us how to be. Today, we accept that call and thank You for it. We pledge to keep our covenant agreements with You, to show You the reverence, obedience, and love You deserve. We also pledge to live in a “koininea” relationship with You and all those around us who share our faith in You or potentially might do so. We approach Your altar in humility to offer You our utmost adoration, worship, diligence, loyalty, trust, obedience, glory, honor, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am directed to continue with more on friendship and to get into ways to remember covenant promises we make. As I have taken the time to learn more about God’s will from the Scriptures, He is teaching me about how to be His friend. What purpose would He have in teaching any of us this lesson were it not for the profound love that He has for each of us? Our loving Abba wants nothing more than what is in our best interests, interests that can lead to an eternal life of joy and fellowship with Him. We need never feel alone or unloved as long as we have obedient faith in Him. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn