Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Three Friends
Daniel 1:11-21 
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.(Proverbs 17:17)
The Old Testament characters Job and Daniel had much in common. Both went through serious trials and challenges. Both had great success because of the blessing of God’s presence in their lives. Both are viewed as giants of the faith, one for his patience in suffering and the other for his purity in an impure culture.
Job and Daniel had something else in common—each had three significant friends. Here, however, the similarities end. Job’s friends became a thorn in his flesh, offering him condemnation when he needed compassion and companionship. As Job struggled with loss and grief, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar seemed bent on intensifying his pain rather than helping him in his adversity.
Daniel’s three friends were very different. Taken captive together, Daniel and his companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, supported and strengthened one another in difficult times. They stood together in honoring God (Daniel 1) and in prayer (2:17-18), and in refusing to bow before the king’s image (3:16-18). That’s the kind of friend we need.
So what kind of friend am I? Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times.” Who needs you to be a friend today?
PRAYER
Lord, help me be the kind of friend that makes my friend secure, so he can find new strength and hope, his trials to endure. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
A true friend is like support to a leaning wall.

Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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