True Friendship with God
Friendship.
It happens. It is so delightful that we may never take the time to analyze the chemistry. But it’s there, and it’s mostly about delighting in sharing life in a relationship of mutual trust.
Kids are great at it, and make it happen without the analysis. Intuitively, a child seems to know when he/she meets a friend.
Still, it’s worth taking a look under the hood of a good friendship, simply because the benefits are uniquely life-giving.
C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves) noted that “two or more companions discover they have in common some insight, interest, or taste that others do not share…sometimes with ellipitical speed they share their vision. It is then friendship is born.”
HAS GOD FRIENDED YOU?
CBS’s new television series (2018) “God Friended Me,” which airs on Sunday nights, has just been renewed for a second season. It features a bright young man whose father is a minister, but nonetheless landed in atheism, principally as a response to the tragic death of his mother when he was a boy. He hosts a radio show, but has been perplexed by a Facebook contact in which “God” has reached out to him as a friend.
Though he can’t believe God is behind the friend-requests, when he attempts to find out who else may be seeking his attention, remarkable things happen in his life and in the life of his other friends. Almost supernatural things. Each episode is quietly driven by the querie Could this actually be God?
God “friends” human beings. Exodus 33:9-11 records that “when Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses…face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Cf. Day 22 in Experience His Presence: A 63 Day Devotional & Journal).
Jesus said to his disciples, “I call you friends.” Psalm 25 reminds, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him…” Kidner notes that “friendship is the Hebrew word tsod meaning both ‘council’ and ‘counsel’, both the circle of one’s close associates and the matters that are discussed with them” (Psalm 1-72, p.16).
CHEMISTRY WITH GOD
I note how this daily encounter happened for Moses. There was a place he met with God (i.e., a tent outside the camp). Moses would choose to enter the tent. THEN the cloud of God’s presence would descend. And thus the conversation started. Outside, Joshua was leaning in, and further out, the nation of Israel stepped outside their tents and “worshipped” even as Moses and God shared their vision.
Face to face with God. Where’s your tent? Do you step into it daily? God will always descend to your special place with him. Let the conversation begin. Council with…and counsel from…the God who has friended you.
DAS