Article October 14, 1972 Issue

God: The Friend of Man

EVELYN M. PINNELL

How good it is to have a friend—someone to turn to in times of trouble, someone to share our good news, to keep our confidences, to believe in us when others doubt. Someone on whose wisdom we can rely. Have you ever thought of God as such a friend? He is. Moreover, there is an innate ability in each one of us to commune with God, though we may not be aware of it. But when we are, and when we cherish and exercise this ability, it grows and daily becomes more satisfying.

The concept of God as the friend of man appears throughout the Bible. Sometimes quite unexpectedly, as in the fifth chapter of Genesis. At first glance this might seem to be a chapter to skip—just a genealogy. But then the name of Enoch appears and, like a lighted window in a darkened street, we see the statement that "Enoch walked with God." ^{Gen. 5:24;} Here is the first mention in the Bible of God and man walking together as friend with friend. So close was that friendship that Enoch did not go through the ordinary experience of death. The Bible says simply, "And he was not; for God took him."

Abraham, Moses, the prophets, and others who lived close to God also came to know Him as someone with whom they could converse. The Bible tells us that "the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." ^{Ex. 33:11;} The book of Isaiah represents God as speaking of Abraham as "Abraham my friend." ^{Isa. 41:8;}