Who's My Neighbor? A Biblical Call To Love Others预览

A Few Good Friends

Sadie Crouch

I think it is safe to say that some of the best and worst times of college can be connected to friendships. Friends are a big deal, especially at this point in your life. You live with them, eat with them, and most of life revolves around them when you're not studying or at work. For a long time, I didn’t understand how important my friendships would be to my walk with the Lord. It was when I saw myself becoming angry, insecure, irrational, and constantly stressed that I realized that maybe I wasn’t surrounding myself with all the right people.

Recently, I decided to read Job, knowing that it was a book about a man who persevered under extreme tests. He remained faithful to God even when his entire world was crumbling around him. I thought I had read Job before, but for some reason, I had never noticed the narrative and dialogue that begins in Job 2:11. We find out that Job had three really great friends. When they heard about all of his troubles, they traveled to him. They decided to be with him in his time of need. Then they took it another step further.

They wept with him. They tore their robes. They put dirt on their heads. They met him in his sorrow and shame. They sat on the ground with him for a week. They dropped everything and sat with him in silence. I think that might be the most important detail here. Instead of offering all of their well-meaning advice that would most likely be offensive and out-of-line, they realized that they didn’t have adequate words. So, they sat in silence with him.

For the next several chapters after this week of silence, a dialogue happens between Job and his friends where he curses the day he was born, and they continually speak truth over the lies he was believing. They speak very realistically and remind him of whom to turn to. Each time one of his friends speaks, they direct Job to God in one way or another. Regardless of the ways he tears himself down, they answer him with love, grace, and truth. I wonder what could change for us if we were to start not only seeking out those kinds of friendships but being those kinds of friends as well. This might be one of the best and easiest ways to love others.