A Model Friendship
Do you have a really good friend? If not, would you like to? Almost everyone wants to have a close friend, yet for some this goal seems unattainable. Many simply haven't been taught how to make and keep good friends.

One of the most famous stories of friendship in the Bible is the one between King David and Jonathan. The account begins in 1 Samuel 18:1 just after David had defeated Goliath. "Now it came about when he [David] had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan [Saul's son] was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself" (New American Standard Bible throughout).

While many are aware of David and Jonathan's friendship, few seem to have noticed the details about how this relationship began.

Rather than a mere accident—the way many friendships seem to begin today—the friendship between David and Jonathan appears to have begun over respect for each other and shared values. This friendship was not a Brokeback Mountain kind of story portraying homosexual love, as some try to grossly misrepresent it. Instead, it is a story of two courageous young men who looked to God for guidance and help.

Before their meeting in the court of Saul, both men had served courageously in the defense of their nation. Jonathan had led 1,000 Israelites in a successful attack against a Philistine garrison in Geba (1 Samuel 13:1-3) and later single-handedly attacked another garrison to lead the Israelites to a major military victory (1 Samuel 14).

A key to Jonathan's success is found in what he said to his armor bearer: "Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few" (1 Samuel 14:6). And God did work for Jonathan and the Israelites. In the confusion that arose over Jonathan's assault on the garrison, God caused the Philistines to start fighting each other (verse 20).

Unfortunately the war with the Philistines lasted throughout Saul's reign (1 Samuel 14:52), and in the course of time the Philistines brought in their giant warrior, Goliath, to intimidate the Israelites. No Israelite dared to go against Goliath one-on-one. No one, that was, until David learned of the challenge and offered to fight him. David's courage was based on his trust in God. Explaining his thinking to Saul, David said, "The LORD. will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine" (1 Samuel 17:37).

So when David appeared before King Saul in 1 Samuel 18, there were a number of good reasons for Jonathan to establish a friendship with the young man. Both had courageously fought the Philistines. Both were heroes. And most importantly, both had relied on God for help.

The friendship between David and Jonathan was the kind where each was a good influence on the other. In this issue we examine how to make and keep good friendships. May we all choose our friends wisely, become better friends with the friends we have and grow in our friendship with God.

Reflecting

Psalms 48, Psalm 8, Part 6

But the greatest work we do is not caring for the earth, as important as that is. It is praising and worshiping the Lord. And the motivation for meeting this responsibility is an awareness of the greatness, the majesty of the Lord.

"O Yahweh our Lord, how glorious is your name through all the earth!" ⁵

It is as we examine God's handiwork, that we gain a proper perspective of the relationship between ourselves and the Lord. Certainly the responsibility of the Church is to make disciples.

" ... go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).

And implicit in this command is the responsibility of believers it to grow and mature, and as part of that growth, we have the responsibility to praise and worship the Lord. For growth means to focus on the Lord and not ourselves. The result of this focus will be praise, worship, and spreading God's majestic name through out the earth.

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all" (1 Chronicles 29:11).

And so our very walk must reflect these truths. As we walk with our children, help them look at God's creation and see it as His, and Him in it. Help them learn to hurt for all of the earth, both people, and the creation itself. Let us all reflect the responsibility that God desires of us, not because we have to, but because we want to.

And let both our walk and our words show reverence for the majestic name of the Lord: First because God is deserving of our praise, of our worship. And second, because it is through the very act of worship that is our walk, that others may come to know the same love and mercy of God that we have experienced. Let our daily lives be one of praise, love and worship, in spite and maybe because of our circumstances.

Final Comments: Do you realize that you and I are the manifestation of God's glory before fallen mankind?

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

When we say the majesty of God is visible through the earth, that His name is everywhere, it is not only present in creation, but it is present in the visible church. And we are the visible church. Often the only exposure the lost have to the face of God is its reflection in our own. And while we don't always show God's face to the extent that we might wish, nevertheless, that is something we are all striving to accomplish, and sometimes we do.

Again, remember that you and I are the manifestation of God's glory before fallen mankind.

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).