A Friend
Most of my writing focuses on the worship of God. He is most worthy of our worship and praise and I believe this should be the dominate theme of our lives. Yet another reason to worship and adore Him is that He is our Friend as well. He who is holy, infinitely wise and powerful is also our Friend. What an incredible God. What an incredible Friend.
Scripture actually doesn't refer to God as our Friend much at all. The major reference is the well known passage in John
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.You are my friends if you do what I command. 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 15:13-15 NIV)
Is it valid, then, to think of God as our Friend given this is a name rarely used for Him in scripture? Most certainly it is. I don't think we need direct references to God as our Friend in scripture to think of Him as such. We can look to who He is and see there is no better Friend.
You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, (Psalms 10:17 NIV)
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; (Psalms 34:15 NIV)
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. (Psalms 103:8 NIV)
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. (Psalms 145:18-19 NIV)
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20b NIV)
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18 NIV)
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV)
What prompts me to write about God as our Friend? It is important as we worship and adore our wonderful God that we don't see Him as distant or aloof from us. As we consider His infinite greatness, we can lose sight of the truth that He is also our closest companion and Friend. As our Friend, He is with us every moment and through every experience. We are never alone. He never sleeps. He is always there. He walks with us through all of life.
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