A New Road to Explore

I'm sitting on my favorite old couch with a fresh, blank page waiting to be written on, with a new topic, on a new day, of a new week, in my favorite month of the year. Here's a side note, that has nothing to do with anything to come, but which I find myself quoting often:

The sad thing is I'm still asking Jesus for His direction for this blog. What do we need His perspective on right now in this season? I have a little niggling thought, and unless I have some internal thunderbolt (in about two seconds) to go a different direction, that's probably the road I'll venture down for a while. What the Lord has to say about any topic is worth exploring, right?

It's more than a niggling thought, really. Months back, it was a suggestion from one who was struggling in this arena. Then, in the past weeks, it has come up more often. I've had more conversations with friends and acquaintances about this topic than I've kept count: what does true biblical friendship look like? I do believe from these conversations those lines are getting blurrier and blurrier, especially with the rise of social media. I fear the inauthenticity and distorted reality of social media has the ability of warping our perspective (don't get me wrong, I use it, see the value of it, but know there should be a warning sign posted when we engage in it).

Also, as a part of my joy study, and realizing that people are often our #1 stealer of joy, this seems to be a natural follow-up. However, this fact should not be. As part of that study, it became quite clear, that we are to be in community solely for the purpose of restoring one-another's joy, not taking it. In fact, back on January 26th, the blog was totally focused on our community of believers: one-anothering one another to joy. So, I reckon that is where the road turns for now on this journey with Jesus. Biblical friendship - As with joy, I've no road map. We'll look randomly at Scripture, and perhaps find our way to some simple reminders, and, perhaps, even some new truths.

Tucked away in the middle of a story about King Saul's put-to-death-pursuit of David, post Goliath, is an easily missed passage on true biblical friendship. Here's our first verse (see below), and probably the key one in all/every relationship:

David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. 

1 Samuel 23:15-16 (ESV).

Here's another translation of verse 16:

And Saul's son, Jonathan, went to David...and helped him find strength in God (NIV).

Another:

Jonathan, son of Saul, left Saul, and went to David...He encouraged him (strengthened his hand) through God (NET).

This has always been my go-to passage as I think about what a good friend is truly like. It's what I look for in relationship, because it's foundational. Fortunately, even in my new-believer-ignorance, it's what I found in my dear husband. Right now, it doesn't need my commentary. What that passage needs from us all is reflection. There's A LOT OF MEANING behind the words that are strung together. Let's chew and meditate on what it says this week. We'll re-visit it next week. Have a good one, and thank the Lord for these people in your life. Maybe thank them, too...