Verse of the Day 5/26

Verse of the Day 5/26

Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin,

    but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.   English Standard Version (ESV)

It may be said the the mark of a true friend is one that sticks with you through "thick and thin".  They've been with you through the good times and the bad.  Circumstances don't change who they are.  In this day and age we may have hundreds or  perhaps even thousands of "friends" on facebook or other social media but it is doubtful that any of them would prevent you from "coming to ruin".  True friends remain over time.  Though miles may separate us when troubles come along or perhaps you just need a listening ear, they are there.  Sometimes, years may have gone by, but when you speak to or meet them again it is as if time had stood still.

Charles Spurgeon in a sermon devoted to this one verse writes, "It is the strong stiff oak of ages' growth which shall abide the tempest; which shall alike put out its wings to shield thee from the sun, and shall afterward find thee a hovel in its heart, if necessary, in its gray old age when its branches tremble in the blast. Friendship is true when it begins; but we must have a man's friendship long before we can say of him that he will stick closer than a brother. And how long has Christ loved you? That you can not tell. When the ages were not born he loved you; when this world was an infant wrapped in the swaddling clothes of mist he loved you; when the old pyramids had not begun to be builded his heart was set upon you; and ever since you have been born he has had a strong affection for you. He looked on you in your cradle and he loved you then; he was affianced to you when you were an infant of a span long, and he has loved you ever since. "  

We may be fortunate enough to have one  of those friends that sticks closer than a brother here on earth, but one thing we can be certain of, we do have a friend in God, in Jesus Christ, who is there for us, standing by us and who won't change, who won't hold a grudge and will welcome us back even if we've been away from Him for some time.

Spurgeon continues, " Some of you I see with gray hairs, some with heads all bald with age; he has loved you up till now, and will he now forsake you? O! no, his friendship is so old that it must last; it has been matured by so many tempests, it has been rooted by so many winds of trouble that it can not but endure; it must stand".  Many, if  not most of us have those gray hairs or perhaps lack of hair that Spurgeon mentions, hopefully, you can attest to the fact that you have a friend in God and through the rest of this age and the age to come "it must stand."

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Proverbs 18:22-24The Message (MSG)

²² Find a good spouse, you find a good life—
    and even more: the favor of God!

²³ The poor speak in soft supplications;
    the rich bark out answers.

²⁴ Friends come and friends go,
    but a true friend sticks by you like family.