Throughout the bible we see glimpses of the Lord’s friendship. The Lord talked to Moses face to face, “as a man speaks with his friend.”. (Exodus 33:11) Abraham was called the ‘friend of God’ (James 2:23). Job talked of the time when “God’s intimate friendship blessed my house.” (Job 29:4) Jesus was labelled the ‘friend of sinners’, and then told his disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you ‘friends’...” (John 15:15).

Friendship is about closeness. In worship, we so often sense the closeness of God. Yet note that the friendship of the Lord is about far more than a feeling. In the second part of John 15:15 Jesus goes on to tell the disciples the reason he now calls them friends:

In other words, this friendship is about revelation. We go deeper than we would have ever been, and see more of the Father than we would ever have seen. We are drawn close to God, and in that place hear His whispers.

These days, whenever I write or lead a song on the friendship of the Lord, I’m eager to put it in context – yes, we are called the friends of God, and yet too we worship Him as the mighty God who is before all things, in all things, and in whom all things hold together. This is beautiful mystery that we hold in tension in worship. To sing songs of friendship only would rob worship of it’s mystery, and God of His true honour. Let’s have worship times full of the ‘friendship’ and the ‘fear’ of the Lord. As Psalm 25:14 tells us, The friendship of the Lord reserved for those who fear Him.” Hopefully, the first couple of lines have some sense of that beautiful tension in them:

“Befriended, befriended by the King above all Kings,
Surrendered, surrendered to the friend above all friends.”