2009 – Day 119.Apr. 30 – A True Friend

2009 – Day 119.Apr. 30 – A True Friend

Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 23: 14 - 18 … 14 And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. 15 So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest. 16 Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.” 18 So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.

My Journal for Today: I’m glad that Swindoll brings up the relationship which David had with Jonathan again. It is a truly remarkable friendship, isn’t it? And we read just how remarkable in this short passage highlighted today.

Here is this young kid, whom Jonathan’s dad, who just happens to be the king, has sworn to kill; and Jonathan, who normally would be the 1st born, heir apparent, reaches out and befriends the one man who is anointed to become the King. And this might lead one to ask, “What’s wrong with this picture?”

Well, there’s a lot that is very unnatural about the friendship between Jonathan and David. The normal thing would be for Jonathan to be jealous of David and to do all he could to undermine David so that he could take over and be the king in the future. And then there is the depth of this friendship, which goes way beyond what most “friends” would think, say, or do for a “friend.”

That’s why I agree with scholars who write about Jonathan as a type of Christ in the Old Testament. Because, when we think about normal, human friendships, the covenant friendship exhibited by Jonathan for David is the kind of “friendship” which Christ has for you and me as Christians. This friendship, exhibited by Jonathan for David, is like that described in John 15: 15, where Jesus says, “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 all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."

How many friends do you have like Jonathan was for David? How many friends do you have where the relationship is a “covenant” friendship; … where the friend would die for you, and even more importantly, would live for you. It’s a friendship where you can regurgitate any emotion all over your friend; and he’ll be there to hold your head … to support you … to protect you … to encourage you … or to say by you, … no matter what. How unnatural is such a relationship? And yet this was the friendship between Jonathan and David; and Jonathan had the character of Christlikeness way before Christ walked the earth.

I personally think that this relationship comes from Scripture to illustrate just how super-natural it is for Christ to love us in our humanity; and it is also there to illustrate the kind of relationship we should have for our closest friends, especially like the relationship we should have for our spouse. Remember that Christ’s covenant love/friendship with the Church is often pictured in the New Testament by a covenant marriage relationship; and that’s the kind of love and friendship any Christian should have for a true friend, especially a spouse, whom God has given you to share life with as a “friend.”

My friend should be someone I would give over all my possessions whenever that friend has need. It would be someone I would share their burdens or their victories … 100%. It would be someone for whom I would set aside all other earthly titles and/or loyalties. And as I said, it would not only be someone for whom I would die but for whom I would totally live.

I hope you have a friend like that. I do; and I am blessed.

My Prayer for Today: Jesus, You call me “friend;” but You have also given me another who is a Jonathan for me; and in this dear one, I am a blessed soul. Amen