Blessed With A Friend

# 254 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 18:2-4, “Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father's house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt. (1 Sam 18:2-4) Saul takes on David in a permanent role in his kingdom. No longer allowed to return to his house, he becomes a member of the household of Saul. Saul's son, Jonathan becomes David's best friend. He shares everything he has and loves him as his own soul. I have been blessed to have such a man in my life, I pray that God would bless you too. I have a friend with whom I am able to bare my soul, my deepest convictions, my deepest concerns, my deepest fears. I, like Jonathan am able to disarm myself with him, become vulnerable, and he is a friend from which I have nothing to hide. Pr 18:24 says, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” The point of this proverb is it's great to have friends, but even greater to have a friend who is like a brother. This latter kind of friend will be there for you in times of adversity as stated in Pr 17:17, “A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.” I like the way Matthew Henry puts it in his commentary on this verse, “ In our troubles we expect comfort and relief from our relations, but sometimes there is a friend, that is nothing akin to us, the bonds of whose esteem and love prove stronger than those of nature, and therefore he sticks closer than a brother, and, when it comes to the trial, will do more for us than a brother will. Christ is a friend to all believers that sticks closer than a brother; to him therefore let them show themselves friendly. Yes, it is good to have an earthly brother in the Lord, but even if such a friendship is missing in your life remember, as the song says, “What A Friend You Have In Jesus.”