Word for the Day January 7
By: Evang. Cascille Hammack
A friend loves at all
times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17
God will engineer every aspect of your life if you will let him. If you
surrender your life to Him and serve Him, He will ordain everything in your life, including your relationships. It is
a great blessing when He sends people into your life that you can trust your heart with. A true friend will help you
grow in the Lord and become all the Lord has created you to be. Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so
one person sharpens another."
David
and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:1-42 illustrate a beautiful friendship. Jonathan was a true friend sent by the Lord
to David. His name “Jonathan” means “Jehovah
has given.” Jonathan was placed in David’s life by the Lord at the time David
needed a genuine friend. Jonathan proved to be the greatest and dearest friend that David would know in
his entire life. When their separation was forced, because Jonathan's father Saul was trying to kill David, Jonathan
said in 1 Samuel 20:42, "Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the
name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'"
Much later in life, after Jonathan had gone to be with the Lord, David said in 2 Samuel 9:1, "David asked, "Is there
anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?" He did find a relative
of Jonathan, and just as King David promised as a young man to his friend who he loved, he showed the
relative kindness and blessed him as he ate at the king's table the rest of his life.
Jonathan loved David until the end. Jonathan “loved
him as his own soul" (verse 3). There were many trials that could have destroyed their friendship.
For instance, Saul hated David and repeatedly tried to kill him, 1 Sam. 18:25; 19:1, 8-11,
and many other instances. Jonathan’s devotion to David even caused a problem between him and his
father, as he repeatedly took David’s side against the king, 1 Sam. 19:2, 4-7; 1 Sam. 20:24-34.
Saul actually tried to kill his own son because Jonathan saw the injustice his father was doing in turning against
David.
Jonathan
laid aside his royal robes and put David before himself, just as Jesus did for us. A true friend will always do
this. A friend sent from Him will love you with the unconditional love of Christ. A person can not love you with
the love of Christ if it is not in them. But when Christ lives in someone's heart, they will love you with the unending,
unconditional love He gives.
John
15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." This is what Jesus
did for us and what we are to do for those the Lord has given us. Not only will He send us friends from Him, He Himself
will be our most faithful and closest friend. Proverbs 18:24 says of Jesus, "A man of many companions may come
to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." In John 15:14 Jesus said, "You are my friends
if you do what I command." Romans 8:38,39 describes His love for us, "For I am convinced that neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
1 John 3:16 says, "This is how we know what love
is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." What kind of
friend are you to those God has placed in your life? What kind of friend are you to Him?