Friendship

I have been blessed enough to be sent off to a wonderful Christian college for my freshman year. I am delighted and thankful to be here, but there have been some hard things about it.

To start with it has been hard to leave behind all of my wonderful friends. Several are on the East Coast. One in California. One in Germany. And several more back in Boise. I miss them all terribly. I spent three years building up my friendships, and many of them had hit a high point by senior year. We truly were developing into close companions.



But now everything has changed. I'm sure some of my friends don't even miss me. Others of course are too busy to be thinking of me. And overall I am terrified of the bonds between us disappearing. Furthermore as I enter into a completely new environment I'm struggling to enter into new relationships. For any fellow schoolmates reading this, I am delighted to be getting to know you and hope that we can eventually develop lasting friendships, but for the moment it has simply been hard having to start all over again.

Today as I sat thinking about that and pondering how this is all going to pan out in the end, I opened a devotional that completely changed my perspective.



I have had several friendship problems in previous years, but throughout it all I'd always clung to the fact that God was my friend and my companion who never left my side. The loyalest of all friends. However, somehow that thought had escaped me once I formed some strong friendships. Now, again I received that reminder through a devotional talking about God's love.

God never leaves us. Below I have posted the devotional. I hope it may mean something to anyone who knows what it is to be alone and doubtful and afraid of what is to come. As a college student I feel all three of those define me very nicely. And that is why this was so impactful to me.

The Place of Rest by David Roper

With (God’s) left hand he governs the world through the ordinances of the world. And now he has suddenly removed his left hand, and we are committed with an unparalleled immediacy and exclusiveness to God’s right hand. Now we have to reach out for this right hand of God and let it be the pillow on which we rest, the watcher at our bed, the guide on our dark and uncertain path, and our staff in the valley of the shadow.

-Martin Luther

Warm Up: - Exodus 33:1-16

Moses was leaving the slopes of Horeb and venturing into uncharted territory, moving from the known to the unknown. He had no idea what he would encounter in the wilderness. He only knew that a vast, untracked, and terrible desert lay ahead, inhabited by militant and merciless foes. The future seemed dark and foreboding- as do our days of uncertainty. “What was, may be less dark than what is to be, “ Tolkiens’ wise Gandalf said to the hobbit Frodo. 

Furthermore, God had distanced Himself from His people. His tent had been moved “outside the camp some distance away.” Are there not days that we wonder if God has written us off in our sin?

Then there was Moses’ loneliness. Thought he lived among millions, Moses had no equals, no spiritual peers, no counselor wiser than he, no one to whom he could unburden his heart and be understood. He bore alone, on his shoulders, the burden of his people, like Atlas carrying the world. 

In these circumstances God gave Moses this bold assurance: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). 

Note well the place where that assurance was given: in the tent that Moses pitched for God outside the cam, the “tent of meeting.”  This is the place where “the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend” (Exodus 33:11).  Here Moses found counsel for the peril of his day. Here an amazing dialogue took place.

Moses reminded God of past assurances: “You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’” Thus his great heart was emboldened to ask for more. “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” Or put another way: “Will you be my counselor and companion?” And God replied readily, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:12-14).

The second person pronouns are singular. “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest (peace).” God did not promise, at least on this occasion, that He would accompany Israel on her journey or that she would reach her destination. Nor did He promise Moses that he would enjoy a carefree life of affluence and ease. He only promised to be with His servant and make Him a center of peace in the midst of the confusion and uncertainty of his day.

God will do the same for you. He does not promise that you will enjoy a tranquil, trouble-free existence or that you will be carried to heaven “in flowery beds of ease.” But He does utter the simple promise: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

God hath not promised skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways all our lives thro’;

God hath not promised sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, light for the way,

Grace for the trials, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised, we shall not know

Toil and temptation, trouble and woe,

He hath not told us we shall not bear

Many a burden, many a care.

But God hath promised strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, light for the way,

Grace for the trials, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,

Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;

Never a mountain, rocky and steep,

Never  a river turbid and deep.

But God hath promised strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, light for the way,

Grace for the trials, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

                -Annie Johnson Flint

To finish (yes this is me writing again), God is the only person in life who won't betray us and leave us. Not ever. He is perfect and loving. Also, another little reminder. God also understands our feelings when we are lonely or hurt or scared. Jesus went through life as a human being and He easily went through each of these places. After struggling through a painful friendship problem senior year I had a very profound revelation one day. As I stood crying as I walked home I thought of something. On my cellphone I typed out this little note:

I realized only today that Christ my Savior suffered suffered the same as I have. He was abandoned, ignored, and brutally betrayed by his disciples, his closest friends. He understands what this heartache is like and can relate to me every step of the way.

What I was referring to of course was at the crucifixion. Judus's betrayal, Peter's denial and the rest of the disciples turning and running. He was completely alone.

Remember that even in the tough times God is there. He does not abandon and He can understand what you are going through. He draws near and comforts us. Just look to Him when you feel alone or uncertain. His arms will be open, waiting to welcome you home.