Have you heard the joke about the Lone Ranger and Tonto? The Lone Ranger and Tonto were surrounded by Indians on the warpath when the Lone Ranger asked Tonto in desperation, “What are we going to do now?” Tonto replied, “I don’t know about you Kemosahbee, but…” (raising his tomahawk and slapping his mouth) “Wo,Wo,Wo,Wo,Wo,Wo,Wo…” Hahaha. The moral of this funny narrative is that in times of our greatest need even our closest friends may turn their backs on us or let us down. How many have learn this discouraging truth the hard way and were devastated when those closest failed them?
The Bible teaches there are friends on whom we can depend who will “love at all times” (Pr. 17:17). But, on the other hand, there are also fair weather friends. “All the brethren of the poor do hate him: how much more do his friends go far from him?” (Pr. 19:7). We all may have some on our friend list who only stick around until we fall on our luck or need their help and then learn they are nowhere to be found even when we have been there for them. And, the ones I am talking about are the ones who are able to assist but choose not to.
So unsurprisingly, the Bible teaches that our absolute trust should reside in God alone (Pr. 3:5; Jer. 17:5-8). He is the primary source of all our help (Ps. 46:1; 121:1). Of course, the Bible is not instructing us to live without depending on anyone else because we all have a God-given responsibility to one another (Rom. 12:13,15; Gal. 6:10; 1 Thess. 5:14; Jas. 1:27). And having good dependable friends is a result of our choices. We just need to use a little wisdom in choosing our friends. The book of Proverbs offers some wisdom in this area.
- Choose faithful godly folk as your closest friends ( 1:10).
- Seek older wiser Christians as friends also ( 16:31).
- Be a friend that others want for a friend ( 18:24).
- Never develop a friend for only a resource ( 19:4,6).
- Good friends should make one another better ( 27:17).
- As a friend, practice being dependable and loyal ( 27:10).
But never forget that our most dependable friend is the Lord who will never let us down as long as we remain faithful friends to him (John 15:14; Heb. 13:5-6).
