Thank you for posting this!
I sometimes lose trust in my friends due to some pains from my past, but things like this help me see the good again. You make me want to dig up some quotes from the Holy Scriptures related to this subject. These are my favourites!
Leviticus 19:17-18: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord.”
Proverbs 3:28-29: “Say not to thy friend: ‘Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give to thee’, when thou canst give at the present time. Practice not evil against thy friend, when he hath confidence in thee.”
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Proverbs 17:17: “He that is a friend loveth at all times, and a brother is proved in distress.”*
*Proverbs 19:4: “Riches make many friends, but from the poor man, even they whom he had, depart.”
Proverbs 25:9-10b “Treat thy cause with thy friend, and discover not the secret to a stranger. Grace and friendship deliver a man: keep these for thyself, lest thou fall under reproach.”
Proverbs 27:6, 9-10a, 17: “Better are the wounds of a friend than the deceitful kisses of an enemy. Ointments and perfumes rejoice the heart: and the good counsels of a friend are sweet to the soul. Thy own friend and thy father’s friend, forsake not. … As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend”. *
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Ecclesiasticus 6:6-17: “Be in peace with many, but let one out of a thousand be thy counselor. If thou wouldst get a friend, test him before thou taketh him; do not credit him easily, for there are friends for their own occasion, and these will not abide in the day of thy trouble. And there is a ‘friend’ that turneth to enmity, and there is a friend that will disclose hatred and strife and reproaches. And there is a ‘friend’: a companion at the table, and he will not abide in the day of distress. A friend, if he continue steadfast, shall be to thee as thyself, and shall act with confidence among them of thy household. If he humble himself before thee, and hide himself from thy face, thou shalt have unanimous friendship for good. Separate thyself from thy enemies, and take heed of thy friends. A faithful friend is a strong fence: and he that hath found him hath found a treasure. Nothing can be compared to a faithful friend, and no wight of gold and silver is able to countervail the goodness of his fidelity. A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality, and they that fear the Lord shall find him. He that feareth God shall likewise have good friendship, because according to him, shall his friend be.”*
^ This is my favourite passage in the entire Bible.
*Ecclesiasticus 9:14-15: “Forsake not an old friend, for the new will not be like him. A new friend is as new wine: it shall grow old, and thou shalt drink it with pleasure.”
Ecclesiasticus 12:8-9: “A friend shall not be known in prosperity, ad an enemy shall not be hidden in adversity. In the prosperity of a man, his enemies are grieved. and a friend is known in his adversity.”
Ecclesiasticus 22:25-29, 31-32: "He that flingeth a stone at birds shall drive them away; so he that upbraideth his friend breaketh friendship. Although thou hast drawn a sword at a friend, despair not, for there may be a returning, to a friend. If thou hast opened a sad mouth, fear not: for there may be a reconciliation - except in upbraiding, reproach, pride, and disclosing secrets, or a treacherous wound: for in all these cases a friend will flee away. Keep fidelity with a friend in his poverty, that in his prosperity also thou mayst rejoice. In the time of his trouble continue faithful to him, that thou mayst also be heir with him in his inheritance.
I will not be ashamed to salute a friend, neither will I hide myself from his face. And if any evil happened to me by him, I will bear it. But every one that shall hear it will beware of him."
Ecclesiasticus 25:12: “Blessed is he that findeth a true friend.”
Ecclesiasticus 37:1, 4-6: “Every friend will say: ‘I also am his friend’, but there is a friend that is only a friend in name. Is this not a grief even to death? There is a companion who rejoiceth with his friend in joys: but in the time of trouble, he will be against him. There is a friend who condoleth with his friend for his belly’s sake, and he will take up a shield against the enemy. Forget not thy friend in thy mind, and be not unmindful of him in thy riches.”*
God really gives us some gooduns…
