We cannot find it on record that God said of any other man, as He said of Abraham, "my friend" (Isa 41.8). Godly Jehoshaphat also seemed to have known this for, in one of his prayers, he recalls how the Lord God drove out the inhabitants of Canaan and "gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever" (2 Chr 20.7). How near to God was this man of faith as he trod earth's scene! We seem to have good evidence of this friendship when the Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and there revealed to him His secret counsels concerning Sodom and the coming judgment.
The apostle James, by the Spirit, shows that Abraham was justified by works, and that this title, "the Friend of God", was on account of the righteous works he performed by faith (Jas 2.21-23). With this, the word of the Lord agrees: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (Jn 15.14-15).
The wonderful privilege enjoyed by Abraham can be ours also. Who would not desire to be counted His friend? Let us keep in mind that faithful word: "… know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (Jas 4.4). May we jealously guard this friendship in a day when few are prepared to sacrifice their friendship with the world to gain it.
(Author Unknown)
