Friendship with God
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doingˇK? ˇXGenesis 18:17
The Delights of His Friendship.
Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship
with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer.
This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even
need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy
which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the
life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a
life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are Godˇ¦s will. And all of
your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a
feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make
decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing
that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of
restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship.
Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped
because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with
God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until
his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and
say, ˇ§Well, I donˇ¦t know, maybe this is not Godˇ¦s will,ˇ¨ then we still have another
level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as
Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to beˇX ˇ§ˇKthat they may be one just as We
are oneˇKˇ¨ (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed aboutˇX were you devoted to your
desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for
yourself or to get to God? ˇ§For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Himˇ¨ (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. ˇ§Delight
yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heartˇ¨ (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
(Taken from Oswald Chambers ˇV ˇ§My Utmost
for His Highestˇ¨ March 20)