Sacrificial Love in Friendships (1 Samuel 20:17)
And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
—1 Samuel 20:17
Is that not a powerful picture of friendship? What a great description of love between friends. He loved him as he loved his own soul. Don’t you want to be a friend like that to others? Don’t we want to have friendships where we love and are loved like this? How meaningful is it to have someone else love us as they love their own soul? Just that phrase makes me think about God’s grace and the people who have loved and cared for me in my life.
1 Samuel 20:17 shows the beauty of sacrificial friendship.
I have so many people to be thankful for: family and friends, and brothers and sisters in the church. My life is the fruit of people who have loved and cared for me, and I want others’ lives to be the fruit of my love and care for them. Don’t we all want this? We want to receive and reflect this kind of love. So, let’s just pray for this in our lives and in the lives of others.
Oh God, based on 1 Samuel 20:17, we pray that you would help us to be friends like this. Help us to love others as our own soul. Just as you taught us, Jesus, to love you, oh God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as ourselves, help us to love the people around us as ourselves. Help us to be friends like this—brothers and sisters in Christ in the church, and family members like this. Help us to love spouses, kids, parents, and siblings as our own souls. God, we pray you would help us to love those who don’t know you as our own souls. Help us to care about their souls and to share the gospel with them out of love for them.
1 Samuel 20:17 shows what it means to love a friend as yourself.
God, we pray for this kind of love in our lives. We pray for friends and family who will love us like they love their own souls. We ask for these kinds of relationships; we want to experience what 1 Samuel 20:17 is talking about in our lives. God, we thank you for your good design in friendship—for this gift. Help us to steward this gift and to cultivate good friendships for your glory.
Even as we think about Jesus, we remember your Words to us: you no longer call us servants, but you call us friends. We praise you for your love for us—for loving me, for loving us as your friends, and for laying down your life for our souls. All glory be to your name. We praise you even for this privilege in prayer right now. Oh God, we think about Exodus 33, and how Moses would speak face-to-face with you as a man speaks with his friend. God, thank you for this invitation to experience and express love, friendship, and relationship with you, the God of the universe.
A Prayer for the Ilwana People
Oh God, help us to love the people around us enough to lead them into a loving relationship with you. God, we pray specifically today for the Ilwana people of Kenya—for the 24,000 among the Ilwana. Please, oh God, may the good news of your love and of friendship with you through faith in Jesus spread to the Ilwana people of Kenya. Please bless the church in Kenya and other parts of the Horn of Africa for the spread of your love to the Ilwana. God, help us to love the nations as we love ourselves—to love them enough to spend our lives spreading the good news of your love to them.
We pray all this in light of your Word in 1 Samuel 20:17. In Jesus’ name, amen.
