Friends

The words friend, friends, friendly, and friendship are found in 18 verses in the book of Proverbs.

A friend is a person who is attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard; a person who gives assistance and support; a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection. In common use, by “friend” we most often mean someone outside of familial or sexual relationships.

Friendship can be superficial (on the surface, shallow).

• Proverbs 14:20 The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends.
• Proverbs 19:4 Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour.
• Proverbs 19:6 Many will intreat the favour of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.
• Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Friendship can be beneficial (resulting in good).

• Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
• Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. 

Friendship can be substantial (genuine, tangible).

• Proverbs 17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
• Proverbs 27:9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.

Friendship can be perpetual (continuous, ongoing). 

• Proverbs 17:17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
• Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Jesus is a friend. 

The Bible says so. 

• Luke 7:34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
• Luke 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
• John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

We often sing about it.

• He dies, the friend of sinners dies (Isaac Watts)
• Jesus, Thou art the sinner’s friend, As such I look to Thee (Richard Burnham)
• What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! (Joseph Scriven)
• I have found a friend in Jesus—He’s everything to me, He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul. (Charles W. Fry)
• There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, No, not one. (Johnson Oatman, Jr.)
• Jesus is all the world to me, My life, my joy, my all...He’s my friend. (Will L. Thompson)
• Now I have a dear friend, Jesus is mine; His love shall ever end, Jesus is mine. (H. J. M. Hope)
• In thee do we trust...our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. (Robert Grant)
• Come life, come death, come, then what will, Jesus is my Friend. (Unknown)
• I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend! He loved me ere I knew Him; He drew me with the cords of love, And thus He bound me to Him. (James Grindlay Small)

It is good to have true friends in this world. If a person lives long enough, his or her close friends are likely to change (perhaps several times). Jesus is our friend who loves at all times, that sticks closer than a brother, our “forever friend” – Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8). 

Divine aid implored

"Looking upwards in a storm" by William Cowper, from Olney Hymns, 1779

1. God of my life, to Thee I call; 
Afflicted, at Thy feet I fall; 
When the great water-floods prevail, 
Leave not my trembling heart to fail. 

2. Friend of the friendless and the faint, 
Where should I lodge my deep complaint? 
Where but with Thee, whose open door 
Invites the helpless and the poor? 

3. Did ever mourner plead with Thee 
And Thou refuse that mourner’s plea? 
Does not the word still fixed remain 
That none shall seek Thy face in vain? 

4. Fair is the lot that’s cast for me; 
I have an Advocate with Thee. 
They whom the world caresses most 
Have no such privilege to boast. 

5. Poor thou I am, despised, forgot, 
Yet God, my God, forgets me not; 
And he is safe, and must succeed, 
For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead. 

6. Then hear, O Lord, my humble cry 
And bend on me Thy pitying eye. 
To Thee their prayer Thy people make: 
Hear us for our Redeemer's sake.

A friend

A friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Pr 18:24

One there is, above all others,
Well deserves the name of friend;
His is love beyond a brother's,
Costly, free, and knows no end:
They who once His kindness prove,
Find it everlasting love!

Which of all our friends to save us,
Could or would have shed their blood?
But our JESUS died to have us
Reconciled, in Him to God:
This was boundless love indeed!
JESUS is a friend in need.

Men, when raised to lofty stations,
Often know their friends no more;
Slight and scorn their poor relations
Though they valued them before.
But our Savior always owns
Those whom He redeemed with groans.

When He lived on earth abased,
Friend of sinners was His name;
Now, above all glory raised,
He rejoices in the same:
Still He calls them brethren, friends,
And to all their wants attends.

Could we bear from one another,
What He daily bears from us?
Yet this glorious Friend and Brother,
Loves us though we treat Him thus:
Though for good we render ill,
He accounts us brethren still.

O for grace our hearts to soften!
Teach us, Lord, at length to love;
We, alas! forget too often,
What a Friend we have above:
But when home our souls are brought,
We will love Thee as we ought.

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779