There is a friend

If you want a friend – be a friend. Reach out and take that first step. So often lonely people are the ones that draw away from folk and are afraid to be friendly or to reach out. Ask the Lord for the courage.

When I was eleven, on my first day at a new school, a very shy girl came up and asked me if I would be her friend. We have been friends ever since. She decided to choose me as her friend.

Jonathon was a real friend and soul mate to David and believed that David would be king one day even though he, himself, was in line for the throne. He put his own life at risk by protecting David, supporting and helping him. His last words were encouragement to him. ‘Don’t be afraid’, he said, ‘My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You shall be king over Israel, and I will be second to you’ (1 Samuel 23:17). How beautiful was the deep friendship of David and Jonathan in the Lord. Sometimes God gives such friendships to us.

Jesus chose His disciples as His friends, to live and share His ministry with them. How they must have loved being in His presence. ‘Jesus said to them, You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for the things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you’ (John 15:14-15).

And Jesus is the friend that is closer than a brother to us. He is our Best Friend, Brother, Saviour, Redeemer, Healer, Sustainer and Protector. He is everything to us – and He calls us ‘friends’.

What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and grief’s to bear,
What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.
Can we find a Friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Joseph Scriven

Prayer: Dear Lord, I thank You that You are my best Friend. May I be that one you call Friend too. Keep me faithful and true to Your commands. Help me to reach out to those who so need a friend. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.