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How does it feel to be a friend of God is what every believe should know.Do you wish you could live more with God? Perhaps you’ve read stories in the Bible of other people’s walk with God, and said, “I want that.” Moses, David, Peter, Paul, Mary, etc. You read these tales of their relationships with God and wonder why it seems you can’t get there.

Well, let’s work on getting there. Together (because I’d like to be there too).

Let’s start with…Abraham.

Abraham’s Story
If you’ve grown up in church, then the story of Abraham is very familiar to you. It is found in the first book of the Bible–Genesis. Chapters 12-25 tell the story of a man called a friend of God. In looking at the life of Abraham that should be our goal, to become friends of God.

But what does it mean to be a friend of God? What does it look like to be God’s friend? Let’s take an overview look of Abraham’s life and see if we can gain any clues.

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Abraham grew up in a place called Ur. There, his family worshipped idols and false gods. It is out of this pagan culture, at the age of 75, that God calls Abraham. He’s told to leave his family and homeland, and go to the place where God will show him. God promises to give him not only this new land, but a new family as well. He promises to use this new family to change the world.

A New Land
Once he discovers this land that God promised him, he’s quickly forced to leave due to a famine. He travels to Egypt, where he ends up getting in trouble with Pharaoh and is kicked out of the country, but not before Pharaoh gives him a parting gift.


Now, he’s back in the land God promised with newfound wealth. But his camp has grown too big. He’s forced to separate from his nephew, Lot. They part directions, and God tells Abraham that all the land that surrounds him will belong to him and his family.

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Shortly after they separate, Lot gets captured in the middle of this war. Abraham goes to battle to rescue his nephew.

A New Family
Abraham realizes his promise of a new family isn’t happening. It’s been years and Abraham and his wife are only getting older. So, they decide to take matters into their own hands. Abraham has a child through a servant. God speaks to Abraham, telling him that this is not the new family he was promised. Abraham would have another son, this time through Sarah.


Meanwhile, God is about to destroy these very wicked cities. He stops by Abraham’s camp along the way to share the news. But…Lot is living in these wicked cities. So, Abraham prays for these cities, that God would spare the righteous living in them. God destroys the cities and spares Lot and his family.

Finally, Sarah gives birth to a son, Isaac. This is the new family God promised. Things are coming together at last. Then God asks the seemingly impossible. He asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Right at the last moment, God stops him and admits Abraham’s love for Him and His love for Abraham. Things are looking up.

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But the next story is of Sarah’s death. Abraham and his family mourn and find a place to bury her. Then, Abraham sends his servant to go and find a wife for Isaac. Abraham eventually remarried and had other children. Then, he too, died.

More Than Meets The Imaginary Eye
As you can see, Abraham’s story is fascinating. It is full of ups and downs, twists and turns, success and failure. It’s really not too different than ours. Especially, when it comes to our relationship with God. Abraham didn’t always have a close relationship with God. He was born into a pagan culture. He had his moments of doubt, fear, and failure. Yet, he remains called a friend of God. How is that possible?


Before we find out, let’s reimagine the story of Abraham with some often overlooked details in the Abraham story.

1. Abraham was strong. Often I fall into the habit of picturing Abraham as a weak and homeless wanderer. After all, he was 75 years old when the story began. 75 year olds are supposed to be frail, right? No, because that wasn’t Abraham’s case at all. He went to war and led over 300 people into battle at over 75 years of age! On top of that, he led the hundreds of people that camped with him–traveling around an entire country.

2. Abraham was shrewd. We often give Abraham a lot of trouble for telling his wife to lie to Pharaoh, Abimelek and others about not being his wife. But But back then, it was a good move on Abraham’s part. I mean he left his hometown, and was planning on travelling to who knows where, full of unfamiliar and dangerous people. It would be wise to protect your wife and those with you by encouraging her to say she was your sister. Even though it was wrong, it showed Abraham was a smart thinker.

3Abraham was wealthy. Because Abraham was a nomad we often picture him being poor. But that was not the case at all. Abraham was extremely wealthy. He had sheep, camels, goats, silver, gold, and servants. This wealth made him very influential in Canaan. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he had an audience with kings.
These three little tidbits cast a different shadow over the Abraham story than the one we may be used to. Perhaps, Abraham should be pictured more like a bedouin sheikh than an old, poor and gentle wanderer.

So, How does it feel to be a friend of God?

Now that we have a better picture of the life and story of Abraham what can we learn about being a friend of God. Well, there are a few things.

1. A friend of God has faith in God’s promises. Throughout Abraham’s story we see that he trusts God. He trusts him when he’s called to an unknown place. Then, he trusts God’s promises for a new land and new family. Even if it takes years we see Abraham trust God to fulfill His promises.

2. A friend of God obeys God’s commands. Abraham was asked to do the near impossible–to give up his son. Yet, Abraham obeyed God. Why? Because he had faith in God’s promises. Faith in God’s promises leads to obeying God’s commands.

3. A friend of God regularly communes with God. All throughout Abraham’s journey we see him stop to build and altar and worship God. Abraham made his relationship with God a priority. Not only do we see Abraham stopping to worship God, but we also see him listening to God when God speaks to him.

4. A friend of God intercedes and prays for others. When God told Abraham that he was going to destroy the wicked cities, Abraham prayed for the righteous in those cities. He prayed for God’s mercy in the midst of His justice. So, a friend of God thinks not only of their relationship with God, but of others relationship with God as well.

5. A friend of God is a blessing to others. It may not seem like it at times, but Abraham was a blessing to others. He offered peace and friendship with those who would take it. He was kind and fair, not holding grudges.

Conclusion
Abraham’s story may be familiar, but it has lots of lessons to offer to those who want to become a friend of God. So, take some time to read Genesis 12-25 and see what other lessons we have to learn from Abraham.

Feel free to share them in the comments that way we all can work toward becoming better friends of God. So, what does a friend of God look like to you?