Best Friends Forever

Think back to your school days. This is about the time in the school year where kids get their yearbooks. I do not know what kids do today, but when I was in school, we signed each other’s yearbooks. Often what we wrote ended with something about being best friends forever. Today often abbreviated BFF. I am certain that I wrote friends for life in a number of my classmate’s yearbooks, all with good intentions. Then we all went off to college or whatever we did after high school, and for many, we lost touch. I might still see them at class reunions or occasionally bump into them, but it certainly is not the BFF relationship we dreamed of.  

On the flip side, my wife and I have a group of college friends who are legitimate BFFs. Four decades later and we are still dear friends. We all live miles apart, in some cases in different states, but we have real and genuine friendships. We do life together and share life together. We are there for one another, in the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is a beautiful thing.

I am quite sure there have been times over the years that I let my BFFs down, not been there for them, for any number of reasons. I have not been there for my wife and kids at times as well. I let those people near and dear to me down. And vice versa. That is just reality. You and I, however, have one relationship that will never let us down.  We have a God who promises to always be with us each and every day.

All throughout Scripture, we see a God who walks with, beside, in front of, behind, next to, those who desire His presence (Proverbs 8:17). He promises to be with us, no matter where we are. He promises to be go with us, wherever we go. Let’s look at a few pivotal moments in Jacob’s life.

In Jacob’s Dream at Bethel — “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28-15).

A few verses earlier, we find that God descended down the ladder that reached heaven to “be with” Jacob (28:10-13) And fourteen years later (after the dream), Jacob returned to the Promised Land and says, “God has been with me wherever I have gone” (Genesis 35.3).

And near the end of his life, as Jacob took his family to Egypt, and as he wondered how Egypt fit into God’s plans, here is what we read – “And God spoke to Israel (Jacob) in the visions of the night and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ ‘I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes’” (Genesis 46:2-4).

As Joshua was about to take over for Moses, God commissions him with these words – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Jesus is called Immanuel, which simply means “God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23)

And Jesus, in commissioning his disciples, ends with this – “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20b).

He (Jesus) also makes this promise to his disciples about the Holy Spirit – “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).

The Triune God makes that same promise to you and me today … He will be with us. And He will be your best friend … forever. Will you embrace that truth right now?

I love God’s always and forever presence. It has changed my life! Will you allow Him to change yours too?

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