Psalm 41:9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me (acted as a traitor against me).
Well Friends, a glorious Tuesday morning to you all! God’s still on His throne and the universe is unfolding as it should. Glory to God! We too are still alive and have the promise of His many new blessings and mercies prepared especially for today to look forward to.
Hn! What a wonderful God we serve and worship eh! One who prepares special blessings and other good stuff for us each and every day. No stale stuff for our God! He LOVES His people so much that He wants to give us something new at every sunrise.
And then people wonder and ask why we LOVE Him so much? That’s obvious; simply because He sincerely cares and looks after us with a mother’s tenderness and concern, paying serious attention to all our hurts, fears and earthly problems and helping us to resolve them. How can we not LOVE Him then eh?
The problem for us now is to find people who are of like beliefs as ourselves, meaning believe in Jehovah God, and are willing to stand strong and steadfast in His Name and do what He desires. Unfortunately, in this ungodly world those people are hard to find.
But we have a couple of recent quotes from our Friend Anselm, who always aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. They came separately, but I have put them both together as they fit nicely that way.
And Anselm wisely advises: ‘You cannot change the people around you, but you can change the people you choose to be around. Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.’
Oh my people, those are indeed words of awesome wisdom! We can’t change the habits of the people around us, but we can definitely change the people that we choose to be around. And following on from that, we need to surround ourselves with people who are going to lift us higher, give us sound and godly advice.
Yes Friends, in our camps, we desperately need people who are going to encourage and support us in our earthly endeavours in a positive manner, not those who tend to be negative, an attitude that only serves to drag us down.
That’s why it’s ever so important that we carefully choose those we allow into our inner circle, and not make that inner circle too large and unwieldy either. For a man with too many friends is just begging for destruction. And that’s why Cousin Sol says that ‘A man that hath friends must show himself friendly (may come to ruin): and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.’ (Prov.18:24)
And the scholars paraphrase that by saying ‘a man must not spread himself too thin among many superficial relationships. Far better it is to have (a few) friends who become like family and LOVE at all times (17:17).’
Gospel truth my brethren! That brings us to our Bit. ‘Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me (acted as a traitor against me).’
And that’s no lie! For many of us have experienced that same disappointment that Bruh David is talking about. And in this ever more selfish and ungodly world it is becoming real difficult to find true friends.
Look at Job nuh; instead of truly commiserating with him in his awful tragedy, his supposed friends only came and berated him, accused him of some secret sin as the reason for his downfall.
And we certainly can’t blame him when he cries out: ‘My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar (close) friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight…All my inward (close) friends abhorred me: and they whom I LOVED are turned against me.’ (Job.19:14-15,19)
Ah mih people, that is what usually happens when some serious tragedy overtakes us; many of our close associates no longer stand beside us. And you can see that in bright and living colour in a lot of celebrity circles.
When the celebrity is hot, riding the wave of financial and career prosperity, there are a lot of hangers on, but once their star begins to dim, and their financial ability diminish, they all quickly disappear, like rats abandoning a floundering ship.
Yes Friends, like Bruh David says later on in Psalm 55 – A cry against deceitful friends. ‘For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne (bear) it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide (companion), and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company (in the throng).’ (Ps.55:12-14)
Ah mih people, what heartache betrayal of close friends brings! And the closer they are to us, the deeper the pain! No wonder the prophet Micah, on denouncing the sins of Israel solemnly declares: ‘Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide (companion): keep (guard) the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.’ (Mic.7:5-7)
Ah Friends, sadly a lot of what Micah says is true, for there is a lot of unnecessary feuding between families these days. So if there is much dissatisfaction and resentment amongst the smallest unit of our society, what can we expect from the larger units eh? Nothing but the same, except on a larger scale.
But I like how Micah continues after bemoaning the untrustworthiness rampant in his day. He staunchly and confidently declares: ‘Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.’ (Mic.7:8)
And all God’s people declared a loud and grateful, ‘Praise the Lord!’ Yes my brethren, for He is indeed worthy to be praised because He does not ever leave or forsake us, or turn against us. Our wonderful God is forever faithful and true! That’s why we can put our total trust and faith in Him!
Please my brethren, let’s be wise and look FIRST to God for guidance, direction and every good thing in this life, for man’s faithfulness cannot be trusted. Much LOVE!
…it is better to trust in the Lord…than to put confidence in man… (Ps.118:8)
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