Being A Friend

Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'May the LORD be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.'" So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. 1Sa 20:42

David made a vow to a friend Jonathan many years previous to his elevation to the throne of Israel. In a time when Jonathan’s father, King Saul, was seeking to kill David, Jonathan pledged friendship forever and David pledged the same to him. Interestingly, that proved to be the last recorded time that David and Jonathan would meet. After their friendship was made it would be tested because of Saul’s hatred for David.
I imagine that David had a lot of bitterness toward the family of Saul in that they were made to be rivals because of God’s displeasure with Saul. Saul of course had an army and David only had his band of misfits who mostly tried to stay out of Saul’s reach. Of course Jonathan was part of the army of his father Saul so it would have been easy for David to wonder how good of a friend he really was. David never did break his vow to Jonathan. His friendship even extended to King Saul. Though the King was trying to kill David, he refused to take revenge on Saul, even when he twice had the chance to.

When David had taken control of all Israel many years after the deaths of Jonathan and Saul, the first thing he wanted to do was to make good on his pledge to his friend Jonathan. The promise they made to each other extended beyond their lives to the lives of their descendants. David sought out any family that Saul might have just so he could bless them for the sake of his friend. “NOW David said, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” 2 Samuel 9:1

Acts 13:22 says that David was a man after God’s own heart. What is God’s heart? It is the heart of friendship. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15
To be a friend if God is to want what God wants, to obey what God says and to love what God loves. This kind of obedience doesn’t come easily. It is achieved through commitment to a promise. First of all the promise came from God. It is a promise of friendship, a promise of commitment, a promise of forgiveness and a promise of faithfulness.

Our part is to believe and then to let God love us to the point of change. His love can do nothing but change us into His image. David often displayed the image of God in His actions towards others. There are other times where he personified a man who had strayed very far from his friendship with God, but found his way back by recognizing that though he was unfaithful, God could not be.
2Ti 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!