Daily Promises
Devotion for Wednesday, October 15, 2008 |
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Daily Promises: Inspiring Devotions for Every Day of the Year by Herbert Lockyer Herbert Lockyer believes that "a promise each day
keeps the doubt away." In this inspiring daily
devotional, Lockyer weaves God's promises with
classical literature to give you a rich source of
spiritual strength to sustain you throughout the
year. Copyright Date 1996 by Hendrickson
Publishers. Used by permission of Hendrickson
Publishers.
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"October 15"
"Abraham Your friend forever.” - 2 CHRONICLES 20:7
In assuring Israel of God's help, Isaiah gave as the guarantee of such assistance the precious friendship existing between God and Abraham. God called him, "Abraham My friend" (Is. 41:8). What are the qualifications of true friendship? True friendship requires an intimate knowledge, which God had with Abraham; He knew him through and through as no other. True union is another mark of deep friendship. God's heart was knit to Abraham's heart as Jonathan's heart was knit to David's heart. Intimacy and frequent access to each other characterize true friendship. God and Abraham remained friends forever, for there was never any friction between them to disturb their close relationship. Their hearts were one. Without mutual love and affection, no foundation exists for a highly prized friendship. This is why God said: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?" (Gen. 18:17). John Keats's tribute to divine friendship appears in his poem "Endymion":
Wherein lies happiness? In that which beckons
Our ready minds to fellowship divine,
A fellowship with essence,
The crown of these
Is made of love and friendship, and sits high
Upon the forehead of humanity.
More than any person, Abraham seems to have had such "fellowship with essence" in abundance in order for God to call him: "My friend forever." We have been brought into a fellowship of heart and mind with a sharing of the thoughts and purposes of the Lord Jesus. As He prepared to leave His disciples, His precious word was, "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" (John 15:15).
Jesus is all the world to me,
I want no better friend;
I trust him now, I'll trust him when
Life's fleeting days shall end.
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