"Friend" - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

“Friend”

“Some “friends” pretend to be friends, but a true friend sticks closer than a brother.”

Proverbs 18:24, Complete Jewish Bible

When I heard someone say recently, “He has no friends”, my heart immediately felt the pain and loneliness that that one must feel at times. I know. I have been there. So have you.

Each of us can recall during our childhood years those times when it seemed like no one liked us when the “kid down the street” had all the friends to laugh and play with, while you sat on your front steps just silently crying to yourself for just one friend.

You too wanted to be a part of the sports team. You too wanted to be invited to the birthday party that most kids in your class were going to. You too just wanted someone to talk with, be around, experience more than being by yourself.

And as we went through middle school and high school the pain of loneliness, even while sitting or walking in the midst of the hundreds of other kids around you, only increased. Why didn’t your clothes, or hair, or skin complexion be as good as they had it?

Even with several people in the company office, or on the highway road crew, or in the congregation gatherings every weekend - it still seems hard to really have a friend to share your joys, your sorrows, those longings you want to share with at least one other person who relates and enjoys what you do. We all want that.

Without a friend, it can really be lonely.

The NASU version of Proverbs 18:24 reads as this, “A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Even the rich and famous don’t really have it all. Ever see a man or woman once rich in money, fame, and attraction for a period, and then after they no longer have none of these, what then? Not a pretty picture. For these things, temporal items, once no longer around, do not keep friends after they are no longer available to seemingly once, and now long gone, “friends”.

I remember as a kid many times, especially during the summer months, of being lonely, without a neighborhood kid nearby who could come out and play (no video games then). Nor the friend I had in school, who lived too far away to even ride my Schwinn bike, the one complete with the cool banana seat and the high handlebars which looked like they were fashioned after the Texas steer.

Heh, don’t laugh. You probably had one too!

But during those times I am glad that I knew the Lord, even beginning at the age of 10 and onward. I can still remember on a few occasions when His Holy Spirit would somehow speak to me, though I can’t say I really knew Who it was at times. I just felt comfort in my soul, a sense that I was not really alone.

I had a friend. He was my friend.

With all the rushing madness, and this no stop turning of the planet we live on, it can be pretty easy to not experience the real friendship that we all long for.

But we do have a Friend. We do have Someone that knows the longing in our heart. He is actually the One who put it there, so we would draw near to Him. And not just to draw near, but also to know and love Him, and others, as He knows and loves us.

You may be lonely at times. You may say to yourself, “I don’t have a friend.”

But you do. His name is Jesus. His name is Yeshua.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8, NKJV

Your true Friend is waiting to show Himself to you, to be with you, to let you know He is ever-present, never far off, always wanting you to get to know Him even more.

Give Him that time today. You will be glad you did and will come to know, even more so if you already do, that you have a friend in Jesus.

Now think on this and see what good things the Lord has in store for you and those around you.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

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Now Think On This #439 - in the year of our Lord 07.19.19 – “Friend” – Friday, 5:30 am