Proverbs 25:19 Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble Is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint. Did you ever have a friend? At least a friend you thought was a friend? Maybe you told them a confidence and later found out they had told your personal confidence to others? Or perhaps you had counted on them for something and they didn't come through as they should have/or you expected them to.
"Hello, Ethel, I've found the best hand cream/body lotion. I want to give you a sample and you tell me what you think. --Well, yes, it's a free sample. Then you give me your opinion...Yes, my cousin and I are selling it, but the sample is free, and there isn't any obligation... Okay, that'll be great I'll bring you a sample at the next meeting."
You wait, but your close friend, Ethel, never mentions the free sample until about a month later. "Oh," she says, "that really is good lotion. You're right I've never found anything I like better. You know that new neighbor that just moved in? She's selling the same stuff you are. I bought some lotion from her and a coupla other things...".
You could get upset, but you could just figure, "Well, that's the way it goes," and go on. Needless to say 'Ethel' doesn't get anymore of YOUR 'free' samples, because of course, they were only 'free' to her, and you can't afford to give her samples, so that she can buy them down the road. And you realize it could be kinda funny....
"You want me to do what? You want it by when? Well, I guess I could, but I'm really busy, and I don't have time...Oh, you'll pick it up...how thoughtful of you." You realize after you hang up the words shouldn't have been, "I guess I could," they should have been, "no, I'm not going to make a birthday cake for cousin Freda's neighbor boy's fifth birthday." Even if she will pick it up in a couple of hours.
Proverbs 18:24 He that maketh many friends doeth it to his own destruction; But there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Romans 5:6-8 "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
The verse in Proverbs doesn't specifically refer to God or Christ. We probably could think of a person who could fit into 'the friend that sticketh closer' category. The problem with people is that it is too easy for us to misinterpret what is needed, or fall short of another's expectations in some way. With God and Jesus, however, we need to understand that they don't let us down. They are there when we call.
Encouragement comes in different ways. Proverbs 25:11 "A word fitly spoken Is like apples of gold in network of silver." Sometimes it comes when someone says out right, "Good job!" or an obvious compliment. Some days it comes when like Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller we have worked for something and there is a sudden break through.
"I heard the neatest song the other day, Mom." My daughter says to me. "Oh, you did?" I respond.
"Yeah, it reminded me of you." Hmm, I think. This could be good, or...it could be...something else.
"I don't remember the exact words, but it was something like...like, 'if you are noticed or not, do the right thing. Whether any one ever says thank you, whether it ever seems to make a difference...do the right thing. Help a friend, laugh with a child, dance in the rain..." Hold it a minute, I think no one would ever accuse me of dancing in the...well maybe once or twice...only when no one is noticing. And I smile. Thanks daughter--I needed that.
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