It’s very difficult

trying to make it on our own;

when we fall,

if there’s no one there

to pick us up.

But what a blessing it is

to have a friend there

to lift our spirits

when we’re down.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 Paraphrased

Comparisons are a vital tool

used in scripture to teach wisdom

For example, when Samuel

said loving God is more important

than simply going through the

religious performance, he said,

“To obey is better than sacrifice”

1 Samuel 15:22

Or when Solomon praised the

importance of harmony by

avoiding unloving people,

he said,

“Better is a dinner of herbs

where love is

than a fattened ox

and hatred with it”

Proverbs 15:17

Another comparison through

It’s better to be satisfied in the

goodness of God, then the raw

and harsh aspects of others

I read about a little girl who

misquoted Psalm 23

but spoke better than she knew.

Rather than saying,

“The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want,” she said,

“The Lord is my shepherd;

that’s all I want.”

Most of us want so many other

things in life that it is hard for

us to say that,

Is Jesus all we want or not,

the truth is that He is all we need.

Most of us want so many other

things in life that it is hard for us to

say that, Jesus is all we want

the truth is that He is all we need.

Aristotle dedicates two whole

books of his Ethics to the subject

of Friendship,

Cicero made it the theme of

one of his most finished essays.

“The wise man,” says Seneca

“needs a friend,

One who helps when we’re poor

One who releases us when we’re

in bondage,

one who sits with us

when we’re sick

one who rescues us when we’re

attacked by foes.”

Prov. 17:17, 27:17,

A Jewish proverb makes a

Comparison

“a man without friends is like

a left hand without the right”

the preciousness of friendship

is one of the joys of life

having good friends is one of the

highest of human goods, and

wisdom instructs us to value it

as the chief element of security

Jesus sent out His disciples

“two and two together”

Luke 10:1

And Jesus is a friend that sticks

closer then any friend, closer then

a brother and closer then our

marriage partner and lover.

As the poet wrote:

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul!

What wondrous love is this

that caused the Lord of bliss

To bear the dreadful curse

for my soul, for my soul,

To bear the dreadful curse

for my soul.

When I was sinking down,

sinking down, sinking down,

When I was sinking down,

sinking down,

When I was sinking down

beneath God’s righteous frown,

Christ laid aside His crown

for my soul, for my soul,

Christ laid aside His crown

for my soul.

Or as another poet wrote:

O love that will not let me go

I rest my weary soul in thee

I give thee back the life I owe

That in thine ocean depths its flow

My richer, fuller be

O light that followest all my way

I yield my flickering torch to thee

My heart restores its borrowed ray

That in thy sunshines glow its day

May brighter, fairer be

O joy you seek me through the pain

I cannot close my heart to thee

I trace the rainbow through the rain

And feel the promise is not vain

Then morn shall tearless be

Do we know Jesus in that way?

Have we let Him surround us

with loving, uplifting friends?