WHEN MY FRIEND IS HURTING!

Saturday, April 4, 2020

WHEN MY FRIEND IS HURTING!

Prov 17:17

17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

           We are now experiencing a forced separation from close friends. To some it is an aggravation or an inconvenience but to others it is literally painful.

           I have been given by the Lord a keen sensitivity to the hurts of my friends. Sometimes it is a blessing and sometimes it is a bit of a curse. I am able to discern their pain even in a misspoken word or a shrug. Perhaps that is why I am a pastor.

           As believers we are admonished to be a shining light but a light that shines only in the daytime is not very useful. No, the light is needed in the darkness. So, my friendship may be steady during the good times, but it is especially needed in the bad. A brother is born for adversity. Consanguinity is a strange word which we do not use often in daily talk, but it simply means “blood relationship.” As believers in Christ we are brethren of the blood.

           When my friend is hurting, I will usually know it because he is my friend and we share an invisible bond. When my friend is hurting, I will feel some of his pain. I can’t explain that, but it is simply true. When my friend is hurting, I will seek ways to relieve him because when I relieve his pain, I relieve my own.

Prov 18:24

24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Dear Lord, you have stuck by me through thick and thin. Help me to stick close to my friends. AMEN