 There are many reasons for God choosing to take a pile of dirt from the earth and breathe His own breath into it, but one of the most fascinating reasons, and one most rejected by human nature is - friendship.
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I recently held a small Bible study at my house, with my children and a few others of all ages. Some interesting points came out and I thought it would be nice to share with you.
Why Did God Create Man and Woman?
There are many reasons for God choosing to take a pile of dirt from the earth and breathe His own breath into it, but one of the most fascinating reasons, and one most rejected by human nature is - friendship.
Why would we even believe that friendship could be a possibility in our relationship with God? What makes friends? What are the ingredients that make up friendship?
(I asked the group to give me their answers and they were enlightening to say the least.)
INGREDIENTS THAT MAKE UP FRIENDSHIP:
- FUN: Friends have fun together.
- SECRETS: Friends share secrets with each other.
- INTERESTS: Friends share the same interests.
- COMMUNICATE: Friends love to communicate with each other whether near or from far.
WHAT DO FRIENDS DO FOR EACH OTHER?
- They are LOYAL.
- They are PATIENT.
- They are FORGIVING. They will cover each other's faults.
- They are HONEST - "A mere friend will always agree with you, a true friend will argue."
- They are EQUAL - "Love is different to friendship. Love demands opposites and extremes. Friendship demands equality."
Now let's bring this into our relationship with God. Proverbs 16:28 says, "A whisperer will divide the closest of friends." (Also read Genesis 1:26-28.)
When God created man, it was His daily routine to walk in the Garden and speak to them as friends. Then the whisperer came into that Garden with intentions to divide this divine friendship.
Genesis 3:1, "NOW THE SERPENT WAS MORE CUNNING THAN ANY BEAST OF THE FIELD. AND HE SAID TO THE WOMAN, 'HAS GOD INDEED SAID, YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN?'"
She answered the serpent correctly, which meant that she knew exactly what God meant. At that point, the serpent used words that created all kinds of doubts. The word for devil is diablo, which literally means, to speak (breathe out) to divide, or to whisper in order to cause division.
Satan's only purpose is to use every breath that he has to cause division and suspicion, so as to break bonds and covenants. When the serpent said in Genesis 3:4, "You will not surely die," he was twisting what God had said and suggesting that God was trying to fool them or manipulate them into a lesser deal.
Once they acted upon the lie, their friendship with God was broken because now they did not feel equal in the sense that they could "communicate with Him" - spirit to Spirit. And when God came into the Garden to speak to them, what happened?
Adam ran and hid himself. The friendship was broken and from that point onward, man saw God as a monster - a terrible, mysterious, sinister and angry being. This was NOT true, but that is how they saw Him, and to make it worse, their nakedness was no longer a matter of natural beauty and life, but of shame.
Amazingly, God still found a few whom He would befriend, and when you read the stories about these people, you will find an amazing pattern that proves His desire to communicate with man as a friend does.
Abraham is called by God: "Abraham, My friend forever." Moses argues with God when God wants to destroy the Israelites in Exodus 32:7-14 (read the story, it's fascinating.) God actually told Moses, "Get out of My way," He said to let/leave Him alone, so that He could destroy the people. Notice how Moses behaves like a true friend would. He tells God that His reputation was at stake because those from the east would observe that God brought them out of Egypt to kill them in the mountains.
What Would a Friend Do When You're About to Do Something Outside of Your Character and Would Ruin Your Reputation?
A friend would stand in your way and warn you of the consequences of your actions and try to stop you in your wrath or anger. That's what a friend is and that's what Moses was to God - a friend. The Bible says that God relented of this evil. The word "relented" means to become more lenient, compassionate and forgiving. Moses, as a friend, literally caused God to become more lenient and compassionate and to "cool down."
Now let's look at Jesus and what He said about friendship. In Luke 12:1-4, Jesus is surrounded by an innumerable multitude of people, so crowded in fact, that they were trampling on each other. Instead of Jesus addressing the multitudes, He FIRST of all spoke to His disciples, and in verse 4, He calls them "My friends" and shares things with them that He would not share with the multitudes. So it's obvious that His disciples were in a friendship with Jesus, even though He was Lord of all and God's only Son.
John 15:15, "No longer do I call you servants...but now I call you friends...for all things I have heard from My Father, I have shared with you."
I love this passage because it adds credence to the fact that God created us, among many other reasons, to be a friend. Once you understand what the Biblical rendition of a friend is, it takes away the idea of modern friendship which barely exists anymore. We are so apt to say, "Meet my best friend," when in fact we have called many others, "My best friend."
Do we really know what a friend is according to Biblical standards? David was called the apple of God's eye. Abraham was called God's friend forever. The word "friend" is divided into two – Phileos, which comes from Phi-logos, and literally means someone to talk to. God created you so that He could have someone to talk to. Doesn't that make you feel wonderful?
Again, we see that there is most definitely a friendship that Jesus offers to those closest to Him and that a friendship would allow them to hear things that most others would not hear.
The Bible study turned out to be inspiring and certainly helped all of us to include the element of friendship in our relationship with God. After all, without friendship a marriage will never survive, and without friendship any relationship will ultimately fall.
Kim Clement
Prophetic Image Expressions www.kimclement.com
by permission ElijahList Publications, 310 2nd Ave SE, Albany, OR 97321 www.elijahlist.com
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