A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity – Proverbs 17:17

Friendship is all about staying loyal and committed to someone, no matter what happens. It means being there for them through thick and thin, even when things get tough or they make mistakes. In fact, true test of friendship is borne during adversity, as our verse for today suggests. Do you believe in your time of distress and adversity your friends will stick by you?

Let’s consider the story of the prodigal son . Scripture confirms that after he collected his part of the inheritance, he went to a distant land to squander it. Obviously with plenty of folks around him. However, not much time passed before a famine came upon all the land. Broke and alone, he was forced to hire himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.

To be fair, the text of Scripture doesn’t explicitly say that he had no friends, but you don’t normally hire yourself out to someone if you have friends that can help. It is an interesting lesson for all of us. We can find a great example of true friendship In 1 Samuel 18, when David shows kindness to Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth.

Jonathan was King David’s best friend, and defended him when Saul wanted to kill him. Upon his death in battle, King David made a vow that he would care for the needs of Jonathan’s family in thanks for his friendship. So he sends for Jonathan’s only surviving son, Mephibosheth, and he cared for his needs.

By this act, David showed incredible loyalty and faithfulness to his best friend, Jonathan. It didn’t even matter to him that Jonathan was dead, he still loved him and cared about everything that concerned Jonathan. It is my prayer that friends like King David will come our way to help us navigate this complex life. It is my prayer that the Lord will cause people who will champion our course, even in our absence, in Jesus name. Amen.