A True Friend
"AND it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." 1 Samuel 18:1 (Read 1 Samuel 20)
It is a blessing of the LORD to have a true
and trusted friend! The Bible describes a true friend in this way: "A
friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for
adversity" (Proverbs
David, in all his adversity, had such a friend in Jonathan, King Saul's son; for Jonathan's soul "was knit with the soul of David," and Joanathan loved David "as his own soul." Jonathan not only spoke well of David and defended him before his father, King Saul (1 Sam. 19:4ff), Jonathan gave up his chance to inherit his father's kingdom and risked his own life to defend David and warn him of his father's plot to kill him (1 Sam. 20). Knowing that the LORD would make David the king after Saul's death, Jonathan made a covenant with David, asking David and his house to show the kindness of the LORD to Jonathan and his house forever (vv. 11-17).
While the LORD may bless some of us with a
true friend or two in this life, we all have one Friend who is always faithful
and true--and that is the Lord Jesus Christ! Even while we were still sinners,
Christ Jesus loved us and shed His holy and precious blood upon the cross to
redeem us and save us from the eternal torments of hell (cf. Isa. 53:12; Rom. 5:8; Rev. 1:5). Christ died for our sins
and rose again that we might have everlasting life with Him in heaven (cf. John
O Dearest Jesus, we Thank You for being our true Friend, for going to the cross to redeem us from sin and death and to win for us the everlasting blessings of heaven. Abide with us always. We ask this for the sake of Your holy and precious blood, shed upon the cross to redeem us. Amen.