Friendship With God?

By David Hobbs

 We’ve all sung this song at one time or another:

                I am a friend of God, 

                I am a friend of God, 

                I am a friend of God, He calls me “friend”

 What a wonderful revelation when we first realize we are friends with the creator and ruler of the universe! Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:15 that He no longer called them servants, but now He called them friends.

But there is a more to this idea of friendship with God than meets the eye. Let me illustrate. 

In Exodus 24:9 we see this account: 

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank. 

 What an incredible experience! I have served God for over 40 years and have never had an experience like that! They were invited up the mountain, saw God, were welcomed into His presence, and ate and drank with Him (a sign of fellowship, informality, and friendship). Who could blame them for going down the mountain singing, “I am a friend of God, I am a friend of God….” 

Fast forward a year or two….. 

 Nadab and Elihu 

Lev. 10:1--Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 

The 70 Elders 

Num. 14:26--And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me?... Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will o to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness…. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. 

 Moses and Aaron 

Lev. 20:12--Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 

First Nadab and Elihu, then the 70 elders, then Moses and Aaron--none of the men who went up that mountain to share the fellowship meal with God entered the Promised Land. They all died in the wilderness under His disfavor--all except for Moses and Aaron under His wrath. Obviously friendship with God is not something to presume upon