~Friendship~

What kind of friend are you? 

My last devotional was on Daniel and the decision that he had to make. This week I’d like to take another lesson from the book of Daniel to share with you all. Reading through the book of Daniel, I found that a lot of his success was because of his friends. In Daniel chapter two, King Nebuchadnezzar had a weird dream, but when he woke up he forgot what his dream was about. This really bothered him, so he called in all of his wise men, the Chaldeans, magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers to see if they could tell him what he had dreamed and what it meant. Of course they were not able to tell him what he had dreamed, and they were definitely not able to tell him the meaning of the dream.The king furiously ordered that all of the wise men should be put to death. Daniel heard the order, and quickly requested that the king not kill those men, but instead give him some time to see if the Lord would show him the dream and the interpretation of it. What was the next thing Daniel did?  He went to his house and told his friends what had happened and asked them to pray. By this we see that, first of all, Daniel had loyal friends who would stop everything they were doing to pray for him. Second, we see that they had a walk with God. Daniel knew that they had a connection with the Lord and he needed their prayer support right then. He needed them to get ahold of God and plead on his behalf. 

Are you that kind of friend? Do you have those kinds of friends? As the story continues to unfold, we see the Lord answer their prayers just in time, giving Daniel both the dream and the interpretation. Daniel then headed over to the kings palace, and humbly told him everything. Being exceedingly thankful, the king made Daniel a great man (rich), gave him many gifts, and set him over the whole province of Babylon. Most of us know that as the end of the story, but its not! The last verse of Daniel chapter two says “Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.” Daniel could have taken all of the credit for the interpretation, but he knew that he owed it all to the Lord and to his friends. He basically told the king, “Ok, its fine if you want to raise me up and make me great and all, but you need to make my friends great too. They did the greatest part by praying, so how about if we set them over the affairs of the province of Babylon?”  The Bible doesn’t say he said it like that, but thats how I have imagined that the conversation went. 

So let’s recap. Are you being, and do you have the types of friends that:

1. Have a close walk with the Lord.

2. Would be there when you need them most.

3. Have a prayer life, and pray for you often.

And last but not least, are you being the friend that:

4.  Takes all the credit for something done? Or do you make sure that others rise with you?

Going back to the question at the start: What kind of friend are you?

<Anna>