"You've Got a Friend"

Have you ever had a song just get in your mind,you have no idea where it came from, and it seems to be on "replay"? That happened to me the other night! For some reason I was singing James Taylor’s’ “You’ve God a Friend”. Don’t know if I heard it when I was in a store somewhere recently or what….but it played in continuous mode in my head for some time. Then for some reason (and I believe it was the Holy Spirit whispering in my ear, “Hey, Lisa, listen to those words) I pondered the words, and though I don’t believe James Taylor coined the lyrics to be a “spiritual” song, read the words:

“When you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand and nothing, whoa nothing is going right. Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there to brighten up even your darkest nights.

You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am I’ll come running, oh yeah baby to see you again. Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah. You’ve got a friend.

If the sky above you should turn dark and full of clouds and that old north wind should begin to blow. Keep your head together and call my name out loud and soon I will be knocking upon your door. You just call out my name and you know wherever I am I’ll come running to see you again. Winter, spring, summer or fall all you got to do is call and I’ll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hey, ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend? People can be so cold.
They’ll hurt you and desert you. Well they’ll take your soul if you let them.
Oh yeah, but don’t you let them.

You just call out my name and you know wherever I am I’ll come running to see you again. Oh babe, don’t you know that, winter spring summer or fall, Hey now, all you’ve got to do is call. Lord, I’ll be there, yes I will. You’ve got a friend.
You’ve got a friend. A’int it good to know you’ve got a friend. A’int it good to know you’ve got a friend. You’ve got a friend.”

Now, I doubt Jesus would say “ain’t”, unless there’s a Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic complement to it! But, isn’t it true that we’ve got a friend in Jesus? (there’s actually a hymn written by that name—“What a Friend We Have in Jesus”; another one starts “I have a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me; He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul…). Jesus is constantly knocking on the door of our hearts, wanting us to let Him in. Rev. 3:20 says: “Look! I am standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he will eat with me.” (NSV) So, as a bumper sticker I once saw says, “If you feel like you aren’t close to Jesus any more, guess who moved?” We are never alone; we are never out of His care; and we are never without a friend! Think about that for a moment! He doesn’t want to just be our Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord…along with all of His other awesome attributes, He wants to be our “Friend”! John 15:13 says: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (NASB) Have you many friends that would truly lay down their life for you? Jesus already has! He so longs to be our friend, our confidante, our husband….not just a mere acquaintance, or a historical character that we obtain head knowledge about and that’s it. HE wants RELATIONSHIP with YOU! He wants it all day every day of your life! Can you wrap your brain around the fact that the God of the Universe truly wants a relationship with you? How awesome!

He doesn’t just want that relationship when things are going well in our lives, though He certainly loves and desires our praise for that! He wants a relationship with us when we are in the pits of life, when we feel no one understands, when we think we can’t go on…
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest for your souls, because my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light." Matt. 11:28-30 (ISV) Do you know what the “yoke” referred to in the Bible is? Jesus was also called “Rabbi”; “Rabbi” means teacher, but in the case of Jesus, it means “one who teaches with authority” (learned this from my pastor, Pete Wilson).
His “yoke” was His teaching; so from the Matthew passage we see that Jesus’ teaching, His yoke, is pleasant, and we are to put it on and learn from it.” Our friend, Jesus, wants to be there to hold us up, to guide us along, to bring us “through it” if He brings us “to it!” Truly, “what a friend we have in Jesus!”