Proverbs 17:17: A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Insight
This verse reminds us of Jonathan who was such a wonderful friend to David. “A friend loves at all times.” Jonathan loved David when he was playing his music in the palace as well as when he was hiding for his life, trying to escape King Saul. Although Jonathan was the son of Saul and heir to the throne, he loved David. It is a wonderful thing to have a friend like that. If someone doesn’t love you at all times, that person is not your friend. It is one of the disappointments of life to have someone profess to love you and be your friend, then when the chips are down, you find that he really does not love you after all. He was a Judas Iscariot or an Absalom, who betrayed you. 1
Application
Listen to what a true friend says and does in Ruth 1:16 “But Ruth said: Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.”
What kind of friend are you? Is your love for another based only upon your friendship conditions? If the good feelings are in your favor, then you are “all in.” But when the difficult days of testing are upon you, do you conveniently depart from the friendship and make up some spiritual excuse to cover your selfish heart?
Motivation
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13
To betray a friend is to reveal that you never were a friend. – TWEET IT
Prayer
Father, teach me about the cost of love when it comes to a loving friendship.
1. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: Poetry (Proverbs) (electronic ed., Vol. 20). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
