1 Samuel 20: You've Got a Friend in Me (Part 2)

"Then Jonathan said to David, 'Whatever you say, I will do for you.'" 1 Samuel 20:4

Yesterday, we took a good look at what it means to be a good friend according to the book of Proverbs. Today we are going to stay on the chapter of friendship, as we see another beautiful picture of it in the lives of David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20.

1 Samuel 20 is perhaps the best chapter on friendship in the entirety of God's Word. Jonathan and David's friendship is a perfect model for anyone to follow. Surely their are many aspect of it, but most notably to me this morning was the selflessness and dependence upon God in their friendship. Their friendship was so selfless that they were willing to do whatever the other asked (see verse above). Furthermore, they asked God to be "between them" that they might be loyal to eachother no matter what (23). They even made a friendship covenant with eachother that passed onto their next generations (8, 42)! Talk about friendship!

Now, what I am not saying here is that you need to sit down with all of your friends and write out a contract-binding covenant with them. But what I do want to encourage you with, as I did yesterday, is the question of have I been a good friend? Like I said yesterday: perhaps many of us are tempted to have pity parties for ourselves because we haven't had good friends in the past, or because good friends that we have had left us. But what if we looked at ourselves instead of others, and sought to see if we were "Jonathans" to our friends? Surely if we did so, we would find much selfish sin even in our best of friendships that ought not to be there!

Furthermore, let us consider the picture of Jesus that we have here. The Gospels tell us that Jesus is a friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19), that meaning that he is dear friend of us (John 15:14-15)! And was not our God a "Jonathan" to us? He was surely selfless enought to bear our cross, and he surely covenants with us that he will be with us forever! Praise the Lord! Jesus is the best friend there could ever be.

So, have you realized your friendship with Jesus today? Have you taken comfort in knowing that the Messiah is your very own friend if you have come to know him? Amen! Now, in response, be the friend that Jesus has been to you to other people. Go, and be Proverbs 17:17 friends! Be Jonathan friends! Amen.