“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

Friend

I found this quote on my teabag tag this morning: “Friendship is a sheltering tree.”* It warmed my heart every bit as much as the tea warmed my tummy. The song “What a Friend we have in Jesus”** immediately came to my mind.

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!

John 15:13 tells us, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” The Son of the Most High God, the One who died to cover our sins, is our Friend.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer!

The One who was tempted by everything we could ever be tempted by and yet did not sin, is our Friend. The One who said, “…Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to waken him” (John 11:11), who wept at his tomb (John 11:35), and who resurrected Lazarus from the dead (John 11:39-44), is our Friend. He weeps with us, longs to comfort us in our sorrow and strengthen us in our weakness.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Our Friend, Jesus, tells us in Matthew 11:28 (NASB), “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He promises us rest if we will bring our cares and burdens to Him.

Just as a tree shelters us, so does our Friend, Jesus. Ezekiel 17:22-23 prophesies the coming of the Messiah: “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘I Myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.”

“Jesus, thank You for being our Friend. Amen.”

*Samuel Coleridge

**Charles Crozat Converse | Joseph Medlicott Scriven, © Words: Public Domain, Music: Public Domain