Our Story-Befriended

Okay, no more comments about how me and my mom dressed to go fishing! I was told to wear dark colors because of the mosquitoes. That's all I had that was dark! Now, as for my mother, that lady wears high heels with her pajamas, so I can't do a thing about it...Now on to us...

Been thinking about your story? Me too. And I've also been thinking about this next line in Matt Redman's song. Befriended, befriended by the King above all Kings. What would it mean to be befriended? I can't think of the word friend and not think of Abraham. On multiple occasions Abraham was called a "friend of God." Can you imagine? Can you imagine the chronicles of time being written and generations three, four, five times removed reading about your life, and next to your name sat the words "friend of God?" But it has to be possible doesn't it? If it was possible for Abraham doesn't it have to be possible for you and I?

And what does being a friend with God look like? What does it look like in the aspect of "our stories"? There's a story about Abraham right in Genesis 18, before God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah. You remember the one where Lot's wife turns into a pillar of salt. Well, there is a powerful interchange between friends before that ever happens. Abraham's sitting out underneath an oak tree by the tie back flap of his tent. And it's hot! And I mean hotter than a southern, hazy, humidity infested August afternoon hot. And out there he sits when he sees some men in the distance. And he runs. Why? Because he knows who it is. The very next verse says so, when he addresses one of the men as "My Lord." And then he adds, "Do not pass me by."

I know now a days when our phones rings pictures pop up or names pop up to tell us who is calling. But before all these highfalutin' things we still knew the voice of a friend when it was on the other end. Shoot, a real friend we can recognize even a hundred yards away. We can tell by their very walk, their very mannerisms who it is. It's the familiarity of friendship.

And Abraham knew. The relationship he had spent decades cultivating with the Lord, well, he knew. And Abraham didn't want God passing by without spending time with him. And at the end of that chapter the Lord takes Abraham to an even deeper place of friendship. The kind of friendship that doesn't want to keep anything from one another. Because the Lord and the other two men turn to face Sodom. And what does Abraham do? He turns too. Wherever the Lord is going he wants to be. I wonder if God chuckled? I wonder if He thought, that's my Abe, no matter what, I know he wants to hang out with me.

In the next passage the Lord looks at his other two friends and says, "Shall I hide from Abraham [My friend, and servant] what I am going to do...For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own] so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous..." Can't you see Abraham? I imagine him like my dog Maggie when I pick up her tennis ball. She's bouncing all over, just waiting, wanting it so bad. I can see Abraham just kind of bouncing there in the sand. The dust kicking up around his sandals. God is about to tell him a secret. And not only that, God knows him. Really knows him. Knows how desperately he's longed for a child. Knows how he's loved Him with all of his heart even on the days he felt his heart would break. God knows him.

We're told that the two other men leave and head toward Sodom and that Abraham comes close to the Lord. His relationship with God let's him know that God enjoys his company. Coming close is okay. And that's when the dialogue begins. I love the dialogue part of a good story. And it doesn't get any better than this.
"Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?" Abraham asks "What if there are 50 righteous? ...Shall not the Judge of all the earth execute judgement and do righteously?"
"If I find 50 I'll spare the whole place." God answers.
Abraham steps a little farther. "I know I'm just dust and ashes and all Lord, but what if there are just 45?"
"If I find forty-five, I will not destroy it."
Abraham steps even farther. "What about 40?"
"I will not do it for the sake of 40."
Abraham's biting his nails about now. "Oh, please don't be angry with me. But Suppose only 30 can be found there."
"I won't do it for thirty." I can imagine a slight smile across the Lord's face.
Abraham presses in even farther. "Suppose only 20 can be found there."
"I will not destroy it for 20."
He steps right up next to the Lord, lifting his eyes up to the God of the universe. "Oh, Lord, please don't be angry with me, and I will speak again only this once. Suppose ten [righteous people] shall be found there."
And the Lord said, "I will not destroy it for 10."
And then the Lord left.

Ever had questions for God? Ever had moments where you just wondered what if? I've learned God can handle our questions. But what often prevents us from asking any questions at all goes to the heart of friendship. We're not afraid to ask questions of our friends. We'll ask them to watch the dogs while we're away, babysit the kids when we need a night out with our spouse, pick up the mail while we're out of town. But conversation with God? What is that? It's based in friendship.

Abraham built a relationship with God because he wouldn't let God get away. Anytime. He wouldn't let God just walk by his house. He stopped Him. He wouldn't let God and the other three men get up and walk away from the dinner table and head toward Sodom. He followed them. But we too often let God get away. There is a passage of scripture that is very true, "Seek me while I may be found." So often we feel that tugging. That tug on our heart that whispers, "Come away with me. Talk to me. Tell me what you're thinking." And we think we can send ourselves a text message, or stick a post-it note on the mirror to remind us to take up with God on this matter at a more convenient time. But God isn't our e-mail buddy. We don't form true relationships on Facebook, or through e-mails, or text messages. Relationships, friendships, are formed when we spend three hour dinners, like the one I spent with my best friend Deneen on my birthday, catching up on everything from our favorite lipgloss to the things God's been speaking to our hearts. Friendships are formed when we know the details of a persons "story", so much so that when we see them down the street we know them by their walk.

God wants a relationship with us. He wants us to know Him that intimately. But do we? Can we discern the difference between his speaking to our hearts and our own desires? Can we see Him coming in our direction and recognize Him simply by the way He walks? Do we know that He has secret things He desires to reveal to us, secret places in Him He longs to take us to and amazing things He desires to do for us. Do we know? If we've become His friend we do.

For many years whenever difficult things have come my way or wonderful things have happened to me, I've had a friend I would always tell immediately. This past year I found that relationship stripped away. So, when difficult moments have come or exciting things have happened, my first reaction has been to pick up the phone and call my mom or someone. But I've done things differently this year. Why? Because this year I made the decision that I wanted God to call me friend. I want to know His walk. I want to know His heartbeat for me and those that I love. I want to know the story He's called me to write.

So, just the other night I got the tap on the shoulder. You know the tap. You're standing on the edge of the cliff and it's that final nudge that sends you tumbling over the edge. It wasn't any big thing. My real-estate agent had simply called to ask me if he could do an open house on Sunday. But it just happened to be my edge of the cliff tap. And over the cliff tumbling I went. By the time I came up for air my mascara was down my face, my eyes were bloodshot and I was expected for dinner with friends. I grabbed the necessary make-up articles to help me resemble normal again and got in the car. But I didn't grab the phone. Instead I began pouring my heart out to my friend. I asked Him to help me understand where this feeling "overwhelming" feeling was coming from. Was too much on my plate? Had I committed to something I shouldn't have? Was I putting my efforts into something that wasn't His plan for my life?

I didn't get an immediate answer. But what I did get was Abraham persistent. I kept following Him. As I drove back home that night I asked him again. Before I turned out the lights I asked Him again. When I woke up I was asking Him again. And as I was reading and studying that next morning, I was reading from a book I would highly recommend to anyone longing to hear the voice of God better, Walking with God, by John Eldridge, and God showed me what was happening. That sometimes emotions come in advance of where we're headed. And that "overwhelming" feeling was the enemy trying to convince me that there was too much on my plate. That something had to come off. And had I given into that emotion, I would have let go of something that the Lord had specifically called me to do. And each thing I had committed to He had confirmed to me multiple times.

Friendship got me my answer. Calling on the one, who has now truly become more than just my Father, my Lord, but now, my best friend, before I picked up the phone and called someone else got me my answer. And being persistent didn't hurt either.

One of the most important parts to our story is the privilege of friendship. You and I have been given the privilege of being friends with the Creator of the Universe. And yet we settle for so much less. As you and I write this next chapter of our lives may we listen to the tugs on our heart, may we be persistent if necessary and may we get so familiar with our God that we know Him by His walk. If we do, then others might recognize us by ours...

May this week find us writing some good dialogue...Until next week...Denise